Thank You For Inspiring Us All With Your “New Challenge” Jan! YOU ROCK!
My first bout with cancer happened in 1998. I was at an initial visit with my new doctor and heard the dreaded words, "Have you felt this?" Having not been doing monthly exams, I had not felt the lump. I was 33 years old and cancer wasn't even on my radar. But, lo and behold, it was cancer. I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy in November and it came back as Stage 2 cancer with cancer cells in the lymph nodes. So, I had another surgery to remove the lymph nodes in my left arm. Because of the stage and the fact the receptors were triple negative (in other words, not estrogen or progesterone positive), a regimen of chemotherapy and radiation was prescribed. I had 8 treatments of chemo, two weeks apart, followed by five weeks of radiation, five days a week. Eight months after finding the lump, all treatments were complete and I was back on my way to healing.
I passed the 10 year survivor mark last year and was feeling relieved. Then, in June of this year, while doing a monthly self-breast exam, I found a lump in my right breast. Immediately, I knew it was cancer, it felt just the same as before. After a whirlwind of doctor visits, ultrasounds, MRI's and biopsies, my suspicion was confirmed. So, in August, I had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. This time it was Stage 1 (caught it early, that is the key!!), but again, it was triple negative. So, although the margins and lymph nodes were clear of cancer cells, I have to go through chemotherapy and radiation once again. I had my first chemotherapy treatment on September 4th and currently have two sessions down with two to go. Radiation will follow for 6 weeks, five times a week, ending, if all goes well, the week of Christmas. Then, back again on road to healing and looking forward to joining boot camp once again!! :-)
Above is a photo of me and a photo of Steve's new tattoo, commemorating my newest challenge!
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