When you get the Diagnosis

If you know anything about me you will know that I am very upfront and open about my breast cancer. That is totally different than when I was first diagnosed. I did not want people to know that I had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I felt almost ashamed that my “girls” had betrayed me. When others told people that I had breast cancer I actually got upset. I think the reason I was so upset was that I could not come to terms that my “girls” had betrayed me, and now when people looked at my “girls” all they … Continue reading →

My Pink Survivor Shirt

In between my chemotherapy and the radiation therapy the Komen Tarrant County Race for the Cure came. Seeing as I was not a breast cancer patient / survivor I decided to participate. I was still bald and tired from all the chemotherapy but I was also feeling very alone. There was no one my age that I knew that was in the same boat as me. The few friends I had seemed to disappear when they heard the cancer diagnosis, it was almost like they thought they could catch it from me. We were going to a church and had … Continue reading →

Radiation Therapy

Did you know when you are getting ready to go through radiation therapy they have to give you tattoo’s? No not the cool tattoo’s just little blue freckle tattoos. They use the tattoos to line up the radiation machine to give you the dosage in the exact same spots each and every time. I am not going to lie to you I do have a tattoo already and that is much larger than a freckle and hurt a lot less than the freckles do. I think the reason that it hurt so much is because the area where they put … Continue reading →

Meeting the Radiation Oncologist

The tumor is gone, chemotherapy is done so what is next in my treatment plan; RADIATION. The medical oncologist is nice enough to give me about a month off to rest before the radiation starts. I had an appointment with my radiation oncologist, I already knew her, and she was my husband’s oncologist the year before. See in 2004 my husband was diagnosed with stage 1 testicular cancer. I am not sure why we both got the big C let’s just call it luck. Good or bad I am not sure but its luck just the same. If you have … Continue reading →

Choosing to Laugh

Chemotherapy is done and I survived. I am still bald, feel like poo but it’s done. Now I start visiting with the radiation oncologist and see what the next step of treatment entails. Before I start telling you all about the radiation let me tell you a few good things that I found about going through the chemotherapy. *When you have no hair you save money on shampoo, conditioner, and haircuts. *When it is time to get ready you do not have to do your hair all you have to do is slip a wig or turban on. *If there … Continue reading →

Why do Chemo and Still Smoke

So for the next 16 weeks I kept up the same routine; Thursday chemo, Friday Neulasta Shot, Saturday and Sunday in bed, the next week included Doctor’s appointments, blood test and trying to be somewhat normal for my three kids and husband. The treatment cycle was hard with most chemo treatment plans you do three week cycles so you have the third week to feel almost normal. With my does dense cycle I did mine every two weeks so I did not get the third feel normal week. Do you know what drove me crazy when I was getting my … Continue reading →

1st round of Chemo Down Now What

I have had my first round of chemo and I really do not feel so bad. I have to go back tomorrow to get a Neulasta shot. They say that because I am doing the dose dense chemo (every 2 weeks) that I need to have this shot the day after each dose of chemo so that my white blood count stays up. The shot itself was not too bad; the next day though is a different story. I woke up and felt like my husband beat me with a baseball bat. This is quite possibly the most painful thing … Continue reading →

Your First Chemo

Going to your first chemotherapy is a very scary day. When you walk in you see other patients who are further along in their treatments than you, and you cannot help but feel scared of the reality you see in their eyes. Before you got the cancer diagnosis did you see a cancer patient and automatically feel bad for them? Now the realization that you are now the one that people will feel bad for makes a sick feeling in your stomach. The patients in the chemo room look at you and smile, or do the head nod but you … Continue reading →

Lymph Node Removal

Before I started my first chemotherapy I still had to have one more surgery. This surgery is removing lymph nodes under the arm to be sure that the cancer had not spread beyond the initial site in the breast and to place the medi-port. The medi-port will be used to infuse the chemotherapy. There are different methods that the surgeon could use to choose what lymph nodes to the one I wish my surgeon had done is called a sentinel node dissection. With this the surgeon removes the lymph node closest to the tumor, if this lymph node shows no … Continue reading →

How to Help if Your Family or Friend has Cancer

If you have a family member or friend who has just been diagnosed with cancer you may want to help but do not really know how. When I first was diagnosed with cancer only my family was told, and my work but I did not really want to talk about my breast cancer. I did not want the “Poor you” cancer look. This look is the look that I kept getting when people heard I had cancer. If you ask a cancer patient what you can do to help, if they are anything like me, they will say they need … Continue reading →