Saturday, April 5, 2014

Something Old and Something New

So here comes the old news.

I have been trying to find ways to explain what caused me to not post as much as I would like and it has always been difficult so I have decided to use this picture of something I made and go from there.


These are 3 chemo caps I made to give the the Kaiser radiation department I went to for 30 days for radiation treatment for breast cancer.  But before you get all upset it really was not horrendous as I only had a lump less than 1 centimeter in size and it was all contained in the one lump.  The lymph nodes were clear and they only removed one and there was no cancer cells in any of my margins.
I had great people treating me very well and it all went well.  I am one of the very fortunate people who did not have to have Chemo therapy.  I am blessed.  Yes, cancer is bad and yes it was very traumatic at the time, but I am one of the lucky ones.
It all started the Monday after Thanksgiving, the two guys I call my other husbands and I were going to celebrate one the their birthdays.  We went to this really neat cafeteria type place at William Jessup University in Rocklin.  It has been written up in the paper and so we were heading off.  I was waiting for the Birthday boy to show up when I got my phone call,  and it was couched not in the form of a request but a demand that I was going in for a follow up with the possibility of a sonogram and more to follow.  It was the way they told me, and I had other occasions when they thought there was something and there wasn't so I was a little shook up.  Of course being me I couldn't tell my guys about it and ruin a birthday, so off we went, of course the Fisherman wasn't available he was at a meeting all day.  They only made me wait a few days for my appointment, that was also a good thing as you get really stressed waiting for the outcome of these things.
The day of the appointment came and I went from mammogram to sonogram to lumpectomy but again I was fortunate, the Fisherman was with me and they spelled everything out for us including the fact that from what they were seeing, the size and location and the sample they saw it would not be bad.  I was scheduled for the 19th of December for surgery.  Me being me, did not tell anybody about it.  It was Christmas time and I sure didn't want anyone else to be miserable.  The Fisherman ended up telling our daughter and his sisters, who are probably one of the best support groups I could have at any time.  And they rallied round me, it is hard for all of us as I lost my sister/aunt to breast cancer and my husbands mother.  But that is why early detection is so important.
Surgery came and went and I had the best surgeon ever, she was hoping to get the official news and she did on Christmas Eve and called me with the outcome.  She was as excited as I was.  So, I only had to have 30 days of radiation and then I take Tamoxifen for 5 years.  The 30 days did drag on forever (you don't go on Saturday, Sunday or Holidays) and I did get a pretty good sunburn, but I had very little pain so I am grateful.  After Christmas I started telling people when I would see them.  I say I have radiation brain as I seem to be slightly scattered sometimes in the things I do.  I feel like Dorie in Finding Nemo.  I also had a positive side there is a Professional Knitter, who creates and writes patterns for knitting for publication, books and magazines and she had posted right before all this looking for someone to help her do some project work. She has become a dear friend and for that too I am grateful, as she kept me focused on some goals and that was a good thing.


These are for all of you out there who have family members or yourself that has had to deal with Cancer.  May you and your loved ones always stop and smell the roses and share them with other people.

Here is the new News.
As for me, maybe now I can start to blog again and share some of my fun things I have been doing.  As long as the mouse thief does  not strike again, you never know when that will happen.

2 comments:

  1. Your wonderful attitude is what makes you strong. May your years be long and full of blessing.

    Y.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for the complement, it was the hardest thing to tell people about.

    ReplyDelete