Kicking Cancer's A** -- My Road to Recovery

I don't think about cancer every day. Thank God for that. Sometimes I can go a whole day or two without remembering that I battled it. And won. Is that a good thing ... or a bad thing? Most of the time there are daily reminders. A media story. My social network of women with BC. A pink ribbon. The scars on my body. I am so grateful. And in ways, I think it is good to be reminded of that constantly. In other ways, I just wish the whole thing would vanish from my memory and I would not wear the Pink Warrior/BC Survivor label the rest of my life. But I got off so easy. I almost feel a sense of survivor's guilt. Except that all of us who have had cancer and are still living are survivors. But let me explain this better ... with someone else's words ... This wonderful writer/blogger is on my BC social network and is a beautiful, young and vivacious African American actress/stage performer. A Cancer Triple Threat JULY 28, 2019   WARRIOR MEGSIE For those in the theat

I haven't posted in a while ... Which is good news in this case. After all, no news is good news. Or so my grandmother used to say. I had my 6-month follow-up mammogram on April 3, 2019. And an ultrasound to boot. This time, they only did it on my right side. The healthy left side only gets one once a year. Lol. A really nice lady doctor Radiologist whom I had not met before did my reading and consultation. She had a great and joking manner about her and that was either very good or very bad. We did a lot of chit-chat before she talked about the results and I figured either she had good news and was in a positive and joking way with that knowledge or she was trying to lighten the mood and put me at ease before she dropped a bombshell. Fortunately, it was the former. She said everything looked great and my scars were laying flat and had healed well. She gave me the free pass go and collect $200 ... err, I mean pay $391 for the mammogram/ultrasound. Lol. I am still cancer-fre

I finally had my first post-treatment mammogram on October 4th. It was much more thorough than a routine mammogram with more pictures and additional views on the right side. They had also ordered an ultrasound. With BC patients, they always have a radiologist immediately read them and notate anything suspicious and talk to the patients that very day about the results. No waiting. So I did the test (only one pose was painful) and sat in the waiting room until they called me back to the radiologist's office. He smiled and asked if I remembered him as the doctor who did my biopsy procedure last year. I did recognize him but did not remember his name (last year was a whirlwind between the months of September and December). He said he took a careful look and felt very confident there were no suspicious areas and that both breasts were cancer-free. In fact, he asked who did the surgery and I told him Dr. Wagner did and he said kudos to her, it was one of the best jobs he had seen and t

Sorry it has been a long time since my last update. At work, we are into our second busiest time of year which runs late August to early November. I do a lot of travel during this time of year both personally and for the job. I am feeling good generally. I have very little pain and have only had a few episodes of any problems with symptoms. Most of the time, I can forget I have been in this fight for the past year. I do feel lucky. That said, I have developed a new problem with my thyroid and have been diagnosed with goiter. I have had an ultrasound on my neck and it shows 6 enlarged nodules and I have had one visit with an Endocrinologist. She has told me that it is unlikely to be cancer of the Thyroid, but that she will probably do a biopsy to rule it out. Meanwhile, she is rechecking the blood test with the out of whack numbers as it it old (from May) and I will have another screening test when I go back in October. I still do not know what is causing this but problems with the

I haven't written in my blog for more than a month now: so it's past time for an update. There is not too much news as far as my cancer goes. I was supposed to see my radiology oncologist two weeks ago for my follow-up. I have been bumped twice (through no fault of my own) from my appointments. I have rescheduled for this Thursday so I hope the third time's a charm. As well as I did during the treatment, it has seemed harder post-treatment. Radiation often has late side effects well after treatment has ended and it seems I have several. In addition to discoloration, I have had rashes that come and go, some pretty nasty itchiness and soreness. All of the symptoms are intermittent;  sometimes they are almost non-existent and other times, they flare up enough to be really annoying. The heat of the summer seems to aggravate it. I will, for the rest of my life, have to keep the treated area from direct sun exposure. Another symptom I have noticed is that side doesn't feel

Nothing eventful with my cancer happening at the moment. My skin has improved even though the discoloration hasn't and the tenderness and soreness has slowly decreased to where it is mild and hardly a bother. I feel pretty normal for the most part. Or, at least, as normal as I am capable of ... lol. So while the cancer thing isn't causing waves right now, other parts of my life are like a tsunami. My daughter got married last Friday at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland. So yes, I just got back from a week in Ireland. It was an awesome trip and I got lots of pics and memories. The day after I got back (today) I got a very expected phone call from my mom's hospice nurse. Her kidneys are shutting down and her breathing is very shallow and rapid. She is unresponsive and starting to make gurgling noises. Doctors have ordered a "comfort kit" for end of life and she has been put on morphine. They say she has anywhere from a few hours to a few days. I have spent today pu