1 Year Later...

Me and cancer...

Sill fighting. Still laughing. Still living.

Last year on April 17, 2013 I felt a lump in my right breast. I went to the doctor the next day and by April 24th was diagnosed with cancer. What a year it has been!

The past year has felt both short and long. I cannot believe that I have done what I have in a year. Wow, I have been through a lot! However, it often feels as if more time had to happen because so much went on during the year. On the other hand it could not have been a year...

I think that duality of time happens to all of us as we have kids and get so busy that time gets away from us. And now I have a greater appreciation of time that I realize how lucky I am to have it.

Happy Birthday to You...

My sweet girl full of joy.

Most importantly during April is my daughter's birthday. While I will always be reminded that April is my diagnosis month (since I am asked a lot), it will also be a time for me to appreciate that I am lucky enough to be here, alive, to celebrate. Each day is something to celebrate - and her birthday is definitely a reminder for me to be grateful for the people I love. She is a beacon of joy and love and I cannot believe has turned 7.

Walking forward...

Support the American Cancer Society

I have signed up to walk and fundraise in my local Relay For Life event. Something that is difficult for me to do since I still have bone pain from treatment, but I am ready to get back out there and support others in the fight!

To do that I designed a shirt to wear and sell. All the extra proceeds from the sale will be given to the American Cancer Society. I am hoping that shirts sell all over the place and that the people who buy them wear them on May 16th to support me as I walk that day. I would love pictures of them wearing them.

They are only on sale until May 1st, so I hope I sell some: Click Here to Buy One

As for my shirt slogan - I feel like all those supporting me are my TaTa Warriors... they are keep me fighting. laughing. living. Hence, three words I love: fight. laugh. live. I will fight this. I will laugh through this. I will live to the fullest!!!

“Hope

Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,

Whispering 'it will be happier'...”

- Alfred Tennyson

Comments

giving your 16 year old scissors

New Traditions Losing my hair - it's going to happen. When I did this in 2013, I waited to cut my hair once I was further in treatment. I didn't want to do that again. I didn't want to do it while I felt sore and bad. This time, I wanted to get rid of my hair before treatment. Since I will have now done this more than once, it can be considered a tradition: cancer haircuts by my kids . Last time I did this, the kids were 6 and 13. So, this time around my son (23) opted not to cut, but watched some. However, my 16 year old daughter leapt at the opportunity to cut my hair. Even though 10 years have gone by, she had to adhere to a few basic rules. Basic Rules: 1. Do not cut my ears. 2. Do not cut your own hair. 3. Do not cut anyone else's hair. These rules still hold up and are the general agreement we make before I put scissors in my kid's hands to chop on my hair! And the tradition isn't the same without going outside (weather permitting) and listening to our

happy birthday to me... almost

Let's rewind a bit and start a few days before my birthday... I had my first cancer treatment day on October 3rd - check it out if you haven't read that blog post yet. Let's just think of it as an early birthday gift since my birthday is October 7th. Great gift, right?!? If I have to hear "Happy Early" or "Late Birthday" from another medical person, I might have to smack someone. Especially, since I have spent most of the weeks leading up to and after my birthday at a medical appointment regarding cancer. Not really loving my birthday this year. Let's just say, on my birthday, I woke up with a special chemo-side-effect-surprise at 2am. That fun surprise I will share later... Rewind a Few Days... Update But first, let's go to October 4th, the day after my grueling 8 hours of immunotherapy and two chemotherapies on the 3rd. I woke up swollen, red faced, and fevering, as well as feeling pretty crummy. I didn't have time to dwell on it since I

More biopsies... where? down there?

Cancer survivors are always wondering and waiting to see if something is going to happen, so it is only natural to worry when something is "off". Then when something turns out to be abnormal more testing and follow-ups are needed. It seems like a continual wave of worries. Sometimes our worries turn out to be issues. Sometimes our worries turn out to be nothing. Either way, we are going to worry... it's just an issue of determining how much and when we should really worry. Finding out my endometrium lining was so thick meant I needed to get a biopsy. What's an Endometrial Biopsy? An endometrial biopsy is a medical procedure in which a small piece of tissue from the lining of the uterus (the endometrium) is removed for examination under a microscope. The removed tissue is examined for cancer or any other cell abnormalities. Lucky me. Right? Now I get to go back the GYN only a few days after my initial exa

TaTa Wars

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