Category Archives: Beating Breast Cancer

Follow my road from diagnosis & denial to recovery and remission.

HOW SUITE IT ISN’T…

Ok, so it took me a while to settle in and write about my first chemo treatment.  Basically because I’m finally coming around to feeling human enough to do it. Thank you to those checking in asking how I’m doing, I hope to be able to update here faster down the line if possible.

I’m doing fine now…but there’s really no way to sugarcoat it, the process and the chemo isn’t fun download your free card from the bodensee-radweg. It’s like you have the worst flu of your life, and on top of that you’ve been poisoned. I know it’s necessary, and life saving, but honestly I think it should be used as punishment in prisons and not on people just doing their best to get by.  Here’s why:

  • It took 7 hours from the first finger prick to test my blood until the final drip of anti-nausea meds trickled through my veins video uit messenger downloaden.
  • The first visit in the morning was to the lab for a blood test around 10:30am. After the lab tested my blood I then had to see my oncologist.
  • The oncologist was running behind…like 2 hours behind. The waiting room is nice, but it is full of women all there for the same thing, all in various phases so it’s not a fun place to sit around video van yt download.
  • Once I saw my doctor, she  went over my vitals, talked about the chemo and answered any last minute questions.  And even though she is super smart and thorough, the only thing she could tell me to sum up my first treatment was that I’d know “something happened” afterwards.
  • When I was deemed healthy enough to take on chemo the pharmacy began preparing my meds while I waited for my “suite” to open up.
  • My nurse and an associate then went over more chemo information and tips for at-home care why can't I download skype. They showed me how to give myself the shot of Neulasta to help raise my white blood cell count back up, and then asked me to try.
  • Apparently my rage stab into the fake human flesh was good enough for them to trust I’d be able to stick myself the following morning.
  • Finally, about 5 hours after the first lab visit, my name was called and I was directed to the suite you see in the picture above.
  • Sure, it’s a nice suite and it’s great to be getting your infusions in private, but if I had my way it would be a suite in a fun Caribbean beach resort hotel download gba games for free.
  • I think I should bring artwork and furnishings from home next time and make it less clinical and more homey, starting with my coffee pot.
  • After I got settled into the suite the nurses cross referenced my meds and then my nurse started hanging every plastic bag full of liquids in the room.
  • She first gave me anti-nausea meds as well as a saline IV to help with dehydration.
  • Then she meticulously pushed 3 vials of vampire red chemo into my vein, mixing it with the saline app herunterladen mp3 kostenlos.
  • After that chemo drug, she gave me the second chemo drug.
  • Then another anti-nausea med.
  • When that was finished I was good to go home.
  • A couple hours at home and I started to feel nauseous. And yes, I could tell “something happened.”
  • I called the resident doctor and he said to immediately begin the anti-nausea meds they sent me home with google chrome browser download mac.  That continued for the next five days.
  • Every time I would feel nauseous I’d take a pill, then wait for it to kick in as I paced around and felt like my hungover 20 year old self in college the day after a huge weekend party.  Or a Wednesday. Because let’s face it, in college every day is the weekend.
  • I took the steroids, gave myself the shot (with less rage since it was my own flesh) and sat and waited for all the various side effects to hit how long can you from netflix movies. When they did, I took the at home medications and they eventually helped.
  • The nurses called to check in and gave me tips and said for sure we’d adjust medications to help with the nausea the next time, but at least now we know “what to expect.”
  • Roughly a week later I felt like I was part of civilization again and made my way back to work, being sure not to overdo it because my immune system is in the toilet and I can’t risk getting sick.

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So that’s about it. Right now I feel ok, aside from the crazy fatigue I knew was going to happen because everyone told me it would.  It’s a hard thing to adjust to, I’m not normally a napper and am usually running from morning to night with no problem. Now, I have to conserve energy, take cat naps and only do so much during the day if I want to be awake past 8pm.

Every day gets a little better and I’m enjoying being able to do a few fun things here and there. So I know there is a light at the end of the chemo infusion tunnel.

Well, until Friday…when I head back in for Round 2, where I’ll sit and wait for that last drip to hit so I can go home sweet home.

 

BAND OF BADASSES

Often women get a bad rap when it comes to supporting each other. There’s a zillion articles and stories about how they tear each other down, rip them to shreds behind their backs and try to sabotage them in some way herunterladen. And sometimes unfortunately, that’s true.

But more often than not, it goes the other way. And there’s nothing like a breast cancer diagnosis to prove it download or download.

As soon as I mentioned my diagnosis, women I know who also have or had breast cancer instantly reached out to me. Friends of friends who know people who have been through it or are going through it put me in touch with their friends herunterladen. And every last one of them, without hesitation, offered me their help, assistance, knowledge, ears and shoulders. Some of these women are now cancer free herunterladen. Others are still in various stages of treatment. Everyone pretty much went on the same journey, some just took different roads. A few didn’t need chemo, some chose mastectomies over lumpectomies, and one is a recurring survivor Farm frenzy 2 free download german. All of these women have given me the gift of their time, patience, understanding and compassion, but they also have given me something that is needed more than anything else when going down this path – strength download series for free.

I started thinking about them and how amazing they all are. As I worried in the middle of the night about being able to handle all that is coming down the pike, I couldn’t help but think of them and how they made it through and made sure I knew I would too filme auf tablet downloaden. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly how to describe them all.

Until recently when I got an email from my cousin, Erin, asking how I was doing fotos von sd karte herunterladen. She signed off with, “I love you. You are badass…”
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And there you have it. There is no other way to describe this band of women sticking together and stepping up. They are badasses who, after finding out another was among them, instantly pulled me in and created a protective barrier between me and cancer. They are not going to let it get to me, not while they’re around. They have gone to war and came out victorious, raising their physical, emotional and mental scars up like trophies, their last F U to cancer. And they are making damn sure I will raise my own when it’s time.

It’s every last one of these badasses who I will be thinking of as the medical oncologist goes through my long treatment plan with me again on Friday morning. And when the nurse puts that IV needle in to start the first phase of my chemo. And when I drag myself from appointment to appointment to appointment, making sure I’m strong enough to continue.

And it will be every last one of these badasses that I will thank when I finally hear the words in April of 2017, “You’re all done.”

And since I’m now a member of this club no one wants to belong to, this much I know; When I get that call, email or text that someone who knows someone who knows someone just got diagnosed with breast cancer, I will be there for her, letting her know that she too, is a badass.

A, C, H, T, E-K-G, LMNOP…

Hey all, sorry for the delay in posting. I was waiting for my appointment with the medical oncologist so I’d know more about what treatments I would need now that surgery is over. What I thought would be maybe an hour and a half appointment turned into four and a half hours, a headache and a general, overall feeling of WTF.

It’s confusing and overwhelming but so many of you are checking in (thank you for that) and asking how it went so I figured the best thing to do is to post it here Download videos in firefox. I’ll try to make it as simple as possible, but trust me, by the end of the appointment, the oncologist was drawing a chart, we were calculating and back tracking weeks on calendars and taking mental notes of our immediate “to do” list that is now a mile long before I start this whole process. Here we go:

The alphabet has 26 letters, and it seems about half of them will be involved in some part of my treatment plan.

The first two months will be what is called AC chemo huawei p smart apps herunterladen. They are two different drugs given together and are the ones that cause the most side effects. Prior to getting these infusions, I need to go to the lab for blood work, then meet with the oncologist, then get my chemo treatment. The day will be about 5-6 hours. They first give you big doses of anti-nausea medicine, then a saline IV, then the chemo. This is the sucker that is going to make me feel like crap and cause my hair to fall out, most likely right after the second treatment download minecraft for free for pc. There is a huge WARNING label on the pamphlet about what could go wrong, including little things like, ohhhhh, heart failure, lowering of ability of my bone marrow to make blood cells, tissue damage, etc. I was told if I develop a fever to get to an ER right away because it could be a sign of a blood infection. Then there’s the dreaded nausea, increased fatigue and other side effects zombie games download.

In the middle of all of this, I will need to get an echo and an EKG periodically to monitor my heart to make sure it isn’t damaged and I can continue with chemo. In between these chemo treatments, I will also have to give myself a shot of another drug to help my bone marrow along in recovery and prevent any infections aus iclouden. This also comes with side effects. If insurance doesn’t cover this at home treatment, I will need to make my way back to the hospital the following day after chemo so they can inject it at the facility and it will be covered as a hospital session. I will be calling my insurance company Monday to see if they cover me sticking myself at home. I will also need to take anti-nausea meds in pill form at home in between since the nausea likes to linger for a bit gta 5 free download voor ipad.

When that lovely song and dance is over, I then move on to the T-H-P infusions. This should be sometime around April. The T is chemo which comes with its own side effects. The H & P are antibody therapies to fight against the HER2. This will be once a week for 3 months. The T-H-P combined will be every 3 weeks, then the other weeks are just the T why can't I audios from whatsapp. The side effects of the T chemo can include feeling tired and weak, upset stomach and throwing up, mouth sores, muscle and joint pain, and losing your eyebrows and eyelashes. I will need to take steroids during this time as one of the side effects can be a rash. So that goes on for 3 months.

After that, I start radiation therapy where they use radiation to kill off any cancer cells that could still remain in the breast that weren’t removed by surgery or killed off by chemo microsoft office 2010 kostenlos herunterladen. That is every day, Mon-Fri for 5 weeks. Yes, you read that right. Every single day – for 5 weeks.

While that is going on, I will also be continuing on with the HP antibody therapies. These will cause fatigue, nausea, insomnia and possible dizziness, numbness, depression, runny nose, among others. This will be ongoing every three weeks and ending in…drum rollllll…
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….April of 2017.

So that will be the schedule (so far) for the next 1.3 years. No vacations, no supplements, no antioxidant red wine…just chemicals after chemicals, after chemicals pumped into me in order to kill any possible cancer cells that may be lurking in my body and hopefully prevent a recurrence of the breast cancer.

But all of the above being said, I know this is what needs to be done. And I also know there are millions of women who have undergone these treatments and survived. I have had the honor to speak to a few of them who are giving me their best tips for getting through it day by day. I bow to them and their courage and will use them as my inspiration.

And now since we’ve gone through most of the alphabet, let’s move on to numbers.

Start date for chemo treatment #1 – 2/12/2016.

EXIT STAGE 2

Went for a follow up appointment with my breast surgeon/primary doctor yesterday. Not the best news, unfortunately.  When I had my surgery, the surgeon injected a blue dye that then travels to the lymph nodes office powerpoint kostenlos herunterladen. The nodes that the dye goes to first are called the sentinel nodes and are where the cancer would travel to if left untreated. Four of them got hit, so she removed them anschreiben muster herunterladen. The pathology came back that one of those four lymph nodes contained cancer, so this now makes my cancer a stage 2.

So based on the pathology that also was done on the mass (which includes being positive for HER2) I will definitely need chemo, radiation and medication netflix series download windows. I meet with the medical oncologist next Friday and will have more answers then. On the plus side, having triple positive breast cancer (ER, PR & HER2)  is good, because they have the medications that work well for treating this type of breast cancer java programm herunterladen.

*An important note: I asked my surgeon about the new recommendations for women to wait until 50 years old to be screened. She highly disagrees with this herunterladen. Then I asked her where my cancer would be by the time I got to 50.  Her reply was instant, “Oh, you wouldn’t have gotten to 50 before this would have become a very large lump.”

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If you’re new to this blog, please read my first entry “CANCER DOESN’T CARE.”

Get screened ladies!

CANCER DOESN’T CARE

 

CANCER DOESN’T CARE

Hey you. You over there going about your life, finishing work and hitting the gym. Or maybe you’re on your way to happy hour with friends, or a movie, heading home to your family, or off to volunteer somewhere. Take a quick second and read what I’m about to share with you. It could save your life or someone’s you love.

I’m a person who does everything I can to take care of myself. I pay attention to the latest health reports on food and products. I buy organic as often as I can. I was a three-sport athlete in high school and college and still consider working out to be the best way to relieve stress favicon einer seite herunterladen. I eat healthy foods and cook with healthy ingredients. I don’t eat fast food. I don’t drink a lot of alcohol. If I do, it’s red wine because experts say it’s good for my heart. I don’t smoke and I don’t do drugs. I take a multi-vitamin and get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. I wash my hands a lot. I get yearly physicals and am not on any medications. Does this sound like you or someone you know? Why should you care? Read on.

I’m also a good person. I’m committed to those I care for and who care for me streaming video. I make time for my family and friends. I donate to charities. I give up my seat for pregnant women and the elderly. I help people with their bags, doors, stairs and life. I buy homeless people food before they ask me for anything. I thank soldiers for their service because I genuinely appreciate them. I’m an organ donor. I let moms with fidgety kids go before me in stores. I love all animals. I don’t judge people — I don’t know their story. You get the point download the battery. And sure, I have my faults, but when it comes to walking the Earth with billions of other people, I’m definitely one of the good guys.

I’m a TV producer in NYC. Most TV producers by nature are control freaks. The “OCD/Type A drive people nuts” kind. It’s our job to think ahead, to dot all i’s and cross all t’s, sometimes before we even know what i’s and t’s need to be dotted or crossed. That’s typically how we run our lives too. I have nearly every part of my life mapped out, each day thinking ahead to the next. I figure what I can control on a daily basis makes life a little easier auto spiele kostenlos downloaden pc. It has worked for me so far.

So why am I telling you all this? Why should you care? Because as much as I do all of the above, I was not prepared for the following words from a doctor on the other end of the phone:

“You have invasive ductal carcinoma and DCIS. You have breast cancer.”

You see, cancer doesn’t care. It doesn’t care that you are a good person and do everything you can to stay healthy. It doesn’t care that you love your family and friends and have a lot left to contribute. If cancer wants to invade your body, your soul and your world – it will battlefield herunterladen kostenlos. No one is immune. Do not think for one second that you are. Do not think your mother is, or your daughter, sister, aunt, niece or your insanely healthy friend is either.

You may think, “Well no one in my family has breast cancer” and that you’re okay since you don’t have any of the risk factors. Look them up, you’re probably right. Neither did I. But it doesn’t matter. And just because no one in your family has ever had breast cancer, you’re not immune or “less likely” to get it serien onlineen. One breast cancer specialist told me that 80% of all new breast cancer diagnosis are women with NO family history of breast cancer.

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There are several recommendations on when to get a mammogram and how often. One new one that just came out is to wait until you are 50 years old. It changes depending on different studies or who is doing the recommending. But the only recommendation you need is from your own gut. If you want to get a mammogram before the time your doctor says to get it, fight for it whatsapp downloader kostenlos. Get it. Do not wait for the words to come out of another doctor’s mouth…”invasive ductal carcinoma.”

Cancer only stays contained for a little while. If it’s not detected, it will spread. You need to know it’s there when it first shows up. Don’t wait for a lump or any other symptom to show up. I didn’t have any. Not one. But I missed my chance to keep it at Stage 0 because I waited too long in between mammograms. My last one was in December of 2012 Download 64 bits codec for powerpoint.

In my defense, I tried to go the following year. The gynecologist who was doing my annual exam is the one who would give me my mammogram prescription. On my way there I got a call from her office saying she was going to be late she was delivering a baby. I said I’d reschedule but they said she’d be back shortly. I asked if she was delivering a baby or a pizza. After waiting almost two hours I left because I had to go to to work. This doctor then fell off my insurance plan so I needed a new one dog pictures for free.

I got busy and the months ticked by. The medical community was starting to debate new mammogram guidelines and some experts weren’t pushing for every year. I didn’t feel I needed to rush to get it done. In between, I went to my regular doctor for my yearly physical and everything was perfectly fine. I felt fine. There were no indications at all that cancer was lurking in my body. I finally went for my mammogram in October of 2015. October – breast cancer awareness month.

The pathology from my biopsy confirmed I am positive for the HER2 receptor. HER2 positive breast cancers can be more aggressive than others because the protein makes cancer cells grow faster. Fortunately I have been diagnosed with **Stage 1 because we caught it early from a routine mammogram. But if I had listened to the new recommendations and waited years to get checked, it would have been a lot worse. So if you’re due, go soon. If you’re overdue, go now. Do not wait for the pink ribbon reminders.

Where do I go from here? I have a plan, naturally. I have i’s to dot and t’s to cross. Lumpectomy. Check. Lymph nodes removed. Check. Follow-up appointment scheduled. Check. Determine treatment plan…check.

So please, make your own plan starting with a mammogram. And bring your mother, sister, aunt, niece or friend with you.

Because even though cancer doesn’t care, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

**UPDATE:  After lumpectomy surgery, it was determined 1 of the lymph nodes removed was cancerous, which moved me to a Stage 2.