Tag Archives: Awareness

One year CANCER FREE!!!

One year ago today I was in a hospital room recovering from a single mastectomy.  Apparently, I wrote a blog post that evening, but I have absolutely no recollection of doing that!    It was one year ago that the surgeon roomed my right breast ridding me of the cancer trying to take over my body.  It was one year ago that I became CANCER FREE.

In the past year I have overcome so much.  hundreds of blood draws, surgery, 16 rounds of chemotherapy, loss of my hair, neuropathy, 28 rounds of radiation, and all the side effects that go along with all of these treatments, but I did it!

I celebrate my one year anniversary with all of you as you are who helped me through this past year.  Thank you.  Thank You.  THANK YOU.  Those words will never be adequate enough to truly express the gratitude I feel.  I am horrible at thank you notes….I do plan to sit down and write them….but please know that absolutely nothing went unnoticed.  From the smallest of things to the absolutely incredible things.  I do believe I cried more tears of joy than fear this past year because of my support system!

To celebrate this year, I told Chris that I wanted a charm bracelet that I could add charms to each year symbolizing another year.  For my birthday he took me to Pandora where I was able to get the bracelet I had my eye on. I had no real plans of getting a charm as I figured my first charm would come today…Chris and Isaac convinced me I needed a birthday charm. I told the clerk my favorite color was pink and she showed me several great ones and then she said, I have a daisy. My mom’s favorite flower is a daisy and mu favorite color of pink, it seemed like the perfect first charm!

I had been searching a while for a “1” to add for my cancerversary. Of course Amazon had it! Below is a picture of my charm bracelet with the two charms. I look forward to adding many more milestone and cancerversary charms! (Yes, I totally made that word up)

One year….

I want to apologize for being MIA on the blog. I am struggling with the “what now” of being done with chemo and radiation.

It is hard to believe, but this journey started just over a year ago, on August 5, 2020. Mu gynecologist had referred me for a diagnostic mammogram after I had discovered a lump and made her aware. I went in that day thinking the lump I felt was nothing major. A cyst or clogged milk duct, no big deal. I left that appointment with so much fear and uncertainty. The doctor wouldn’t speculate as to what she thought was going on. All she would say was I needed a biopsy and that the ultrasound showed not one, but several suspicious masses. She called them “satellite” masses feeding off of the larger one that I was feeling.

I got in the car and cried. Chris did what he does and said all the right things, but my mind was swirling. My birthday was coming in a few days, my oldest was moving to college, 2020 was already crazy with COVID, and now cancer. I knew by the look in the doctors eyes it was cancer. I knew when I left that day our lives had just instantly changed. The emotional torture to come is something I want to share in a separate post. I am going to do a few post reflecting on the last year, but I want to end with an update on life in Cotterville.

We moved Jordan back to college for year two last weekend. He is thriving and we are so proud of him. We know this is going to be a fantastic and exciting year for him. He is doing apartment life this year. He now has two roommates he met last year at school and they adopted two cats today!

Isaac has had a great summer including a trip to church camp. He had an awesome time. He has battled sickness, (yes, the other C word, COVID) but is healthy now and ready for school to start on the 11th. They are starting so early this year! He will be finishing his time on the elementary campus as a 6th grader!

Eli is a character. He brings so much joy to our family. He is doing speech and vision therapies and doing so well with both! He is very independent and knows what he wants. He does specific things to make us laugh and is just all around a great kiddo! He will be going to preschool at our church this year so he will be having a blast at school while I work!

Chris and I are doing well. We are excited about school starting and getting back into routines. Chris is still working from home which everyone enjoys. We hope this can become a more permanent thing eventually! I am working at the church a few days a week and love every single minute of it. I don’t even really like to call it work. That’s how you know it’s where God wants you to be. I will be starting back to school at the end of September and will hopefully graduate by mid-2022!

As I struggle with the what nows, I would love your input on what you would like to see me and post about. I want with all my heart to continue telling the story God is writing in my life, I am just struggling with the how. Please share ideas in the comments or reach out to me directly!

Picture of Isaac and I when he returned from camp. Look at the hair! I will do a better heart update soon!
Eli at work with mommy!
The latest picture I have of Jordan is from a summer trip to Arkansas. He checking out a plane with Todd!

My New Accessory

When I had my surgery back in September the doctor had to remove two lymph nodes to determine if my cancer had spread. Thankfully, my lymph nodes were completely clean!

What I never realized was that removing two lymph nodes would leave me with a reason for a medical alert bracelet!

Let me start with a brief description of what the lymph nodes are. All throughout your body you have these bean-shaped nodes. They are part of the immune system and act as a filter. The lymphatic system also contains white blood cells that help your body fight infection. Everyone has a different number of lymph nodes under their arm. The breast empties fluids through what is know as a gateway. One fluids pass this gateway they enter the lymphatic system and circulate through the body. Just like bad cells in the lymphatic system there are white blood cells that circulate through the body to fight infection. The lymphatic system is critical to immune health! It is why when you are sick you might have swelling in your neck, under your arm, or anywhere else that infection is present.

I recently learned that my cancer had spread to within the lymphatic system of my breast, but never made it to the “gateway”. The cancer was in route to the exit and has it gotten through the “gate” could have quickly spread through my entire body. This is one of the reasons my oncology team has been so aggressive in my treatment. They want to make completely sure nothing got through.

With the removal of the two lymph nodes under my right arm, I am at a greater risk of lymphedema or swelling associated with a blockage is the lymphatic system. This can be painful and cause circulation issues. Due to this risk, I cannot have any type of tourniquet on my right arm. They cannot use that arm to draw blood, give shots, or check mu blood pressure. I am able to tell doctors this, but if something were to happen, medical staff would need to be aware. For this reason I ordered a fun medical alert bracelet.

Before my surgery I had no idea this was a thing for breast cancer patients., cancer patients in general. I am not a medical professional and Googled info to write this blog. This is my layman’s understanding!

Did you know this was a thing or did you learn something new? What else would you like me to talk about in future blogs. Comment below and let me know!