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Thursday, July 2, 2009
Final Surgery
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
I need $5. Can I count on your support?
Cancer sucks and we all know it (whether you have experienced it yourself, have/had a family member or friend experience it or neither of these but you still just know how much it sucks).
As you know I have Breast Cancer and I am sick of Cancer kicking my butt so I am going to kick it's butt back by stomping all over it! Well, walking all over actually. My family and friends and I have joined a "Relay For Life" team and will be walking from 6pm Saturday, June 6th until 6am June 7th to help fight cancer and we need your help! I have pledged to raise $500.00 for the American Cancer Society. You can help by clicking the link to my Relay web site at the bottom of this page and make a donation. It's that easy! ANY dollar amount will help. You can donate any dollar amount between FIVE dollars to a gazillion million trillion dollars and you will be my hero no matter what dollar amount you can contribute!
I keep picturing those commercials where they talk about how the price of one cup of coffee a day can save a child...well that is how I feel about this as well. It may sound goofy but seriously if you think about how much you may spend on Starbucks or McDonalds each day. You can skip one of those for one day and use those five dollars to help me reach my goal. Trust me, I know that might be difficult to give up because I do Starbucks AND McDonalds nearly each day but I would give that up for the rest of my life if I knew I could help one less person have to go through the Mental, Emotional, Physical and Spiritual roller coaster that goes along with having cancer.
Thank you for reading and I thank you for your support!
Lots of love,
Judy
Click here to visit my personal page.If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09IL?px=11505086&pg=personal&fr_id=15178&fl=en_US&et=heSBN48l33tz3lIrkI_kbQ..&s_tafId=401667 Click here to view the team page for Christine and Judy's Angels
P.S. Please feel free to forward this message to any others who may want to join the fight!
P.S.S. If you are still reading - this is the info that I deleted from the "form letter" that they want you to send out but felt bad for deleting it because it's good info to know...so I pasted that info below.
The American Cancer Society is well known for its research investments. Virtually every major cancer breakthrough of the last 60 years can be traced to Society funding.
What you may not know is that the American Cancer Society also provides cancer patients and their families access to reliable information and free resources for day-to-day help and emotional support to complement what their doctors and medical facilities provide.
There has been so much progress in cancer prevention, detection and treatment over the years. But fighting cancer still takes a tremendous emotional toll on patients and their families. And the financial stakes are huge, even for those who have insurance.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Since I last blogged
COMING OUT:
I think I have turned a corner though. I have started socializing with other women with Breast Cancer and cancer survivors and that has helped. I have wanted to do this the past seven months but I had so many feelings around it. Even now when strangers come up to me to ask me if I have cancer I don't know what to say. I say, "Yes. Well, I don't know. I finished Chemo in April". Or if they ask if I am a "survivor" I say, "Yes. Well, I don't know. I finished Chemo in April".
I went to a conference type gathering called, "Day of Sharing". It was my first cancer outing and I loved it. It was great and touching to be in a room full of Survivors (about three hundred women and a dozen men). They day was filled with inspiring key note speakers, Q and A with a panel of experts, a raffle (which my mom and I scored big time on!) and silent auction, lunch, Vendors and Survivor fashion show. The fashion was the best part. As each survivor walked the runway they shared her (and one guys) Breast Cancer story. It was sweet, emotional and inspiring. I am going to volunteer next year and you are all invited and encouraged to attend. I will remind you about it later. Don't worry.
The weekend of June 6th some family and friends and I will be doing the "Relay for Life" to raise money for cancer research. We have a team where one person from our team has to be walking at all times for twelve hours! Wait. Not one person for twelve hours. You know what I mean...it's a relay. It's from six pm to six am so you get to camp out, too! I will be begging I mean fundraising for this soon so you will be hearing from me soon about that!
On Mother's Day my family and friends and I celebrated the end of my chemo, as well as Mother's Day by going to see the White Sox game. It was Breast Cancer Awareness day. There was a parade before the game and the first ten thousand ladies received pink sox draw string bags. The players batted with pink bats and they had pink wrist bands. The umps had them, too! My nephew said that all of the Major League games did this on Mother's Day. It was fun. The Sox lost big time so we were all able to talk and catch up with each other.
I also watched the documentary "Crazy, Sexy, Cancer". Highly recommend it. I laughed. I cried. I wrote.
I have been writing a lot. That has been helpful, too.
EYE BROWS:
I am still very self conscious about loosing my eye brows. It was odd because I thought that loosing the hair on my head was hard to deal with. I did not think that I would mind with loosing my eye brows. When I finally started not feeling self conscious in public with my head...I loose my eye brows. A few weeks ago I was talking to my students and told them that I lost my eye brows. One student said, "How'd that go for you." and I said, "Well, I cried for three day but now I am better." I went around the first few days not being able to make eye contact with people. I thought if I just looked down constantly then people wouldn't notice and if they did notice I wouldn't see them gasp in horror. I am a little better about it now but I still tend to look away from people or when I do make eye contact with a clerk at Walgreens I wonder if they are staring at the place my eye brows should be. I notice that I notice other people's eye brows. I am watching "A few good men" and I just noticed Tom Cruise's bushy eye brows. I already had such body image/self esteem issues growing up - hell and way into my adulthood - it's hard to go through it all over again.
BREAST RECONSTRUCTION:
I am getting toward the end of my breast reconstruction. Thank god! I didn't realize how over it I am! Tomorrow I go for one final "juicing". My right breast will officially be one full cup size bigger than my left. So, that will be fun trying to wear a bra that fits! Tomorrow my doctor and I will pick a surgery date! The surgery will be a day surgery where I will go in and get my expander taken out, an implant put in and a lift on the other side. Five months ago I didn't care too much about the lift but holy crap - now I can't wait. My breast look ridiculous they are so lop sided. I didn't realize how happy I am to be done with this reconstruction...but I think it is obvious with all of my exclamation points!!! The surgery will be in mid June. At some point after that I will go back for a nipple and areola then voila! Breast!
I think you are all caught up now.
Talk soon.
Judy
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Final round of chemo!
I guess because there is still more to come. So, I am not done. I didn't get a clear answer as to when I can say that I am cured. My Oncologist said that breast cancer is tricky because after chemo it still tends to linger. The Tamoxafin treatment will help with that. Then there will be tests every few months to keep a close eye on it.
I have been through all kinds of emotions since the first abnormal tests. Seeing doctors every week and then now I'm done with chemo what does that mean? I am in kind of a limbo stage. My mom said that she talked to some chemo nurses yesterday and today and they warned her that more often than not that this time is harder for women because they feel like their safety net of doctors and nurses are gone and it's a scary time.
I am still mostly sure that I don't need radiation but we opened the subject again when we thought it was closed. My Oncologist wants to run my pathology report by the Radiologist to get his opinion. That was shocking to hear just because I thought no radiation was a given. My doctor feels confident that we will not need to go that route but that doesn't really make me feel better since my doctors were pretty sure early on that this wasn't even breast cancer in the first place.
My Oncologist also talked again about throwing me into early Menopause but there is not much to discuss on the matter until we see what the Tamoxafin will do to my cycles. But it's just the idea. He said that going into Menopause in my thirties would not be the best thing for my body either but would reduce the risk of breast cancer reoccurring. It also made me sad that even though I am not planning on giving birth or getting pregnant that the choice might be made for me. Once again, another part of it that I don't have a say in.
Then there is the fact that I weigh more now that I have ever weighed in my life. The nurse told me to blame the steroids so I said ok. I would. My eye brows are falling out and look like a bad wax or tweezing job. A good wax or tweezing job would have been fine by me with my bushy eye brows.
My positive story of the day: I got hit on by a cute young woman at the park today. I decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air before my big weekend in bed and to think and clear my head. I was walking very slowly. I mean very very slowly. The older people with walkers were going faster than me. I head my head down just thinkin' then all of the sudden I hear, "Excuse me." I turned around and I looked at her and she said, "Oh. I was just letting you know that I was passing." I said, "Oh. Ok." Then she said, "Are you in a relationship?" and I said, "Ya." and she said, "That's too bad." Then she said, "I hope you are not walking to loose weight." and I said, "Kind of." Then she said, "It's good to have a little meat on you." and I said, "Thanks." and smiled real big. Normally that kind of thing might bother me but it was a pretty perfect time for that to happen to me.
Till next time...Judy
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Cancer is a fucking asshole
I hate you cancer and all that you have done to me.
I am someone who used to never take meds. Today I looked at my giant zip lock bag full of meds and want to throw them. Then I started thinking about how it is time to get my steroid and nausea meds refilled because starting Monday it will be time to start taking steroids for my final chemo treatment. You might think that I would be happy that this will be my last treatment but instead I got mad. Mad for so many reasons. Mad that now instead of just three days of crying and feeling anxious and nervous and not being able to sleep and stressed it's six days of that. I am mad that it's time do go through chemo again. I keep wanting to say that I refuse to do it again but I know I can't do that.
I hate all of the roller coaster of feelings. Feelings of being embarrassed to let people see me with out my hair. I know I felt comfortable a few weeks ago but I guess that has changed. I hate getting my breast pumped up because then for two weeks my breast is practically in my neck. So, wearing a fitting shirt looks ridiculous. I hate trying to deal with all of the other shit going on in my life yet trying to make "getting better" a priority. That's not really possible. So, to me, this cancer is really just an inconvenience. I keep thinking that and waiting for this to happen for a reason or to be a gift or to happen to me because you don't get more than you can handle. Maybe someday I will see it that way but definitely not now.
The last time I went to the pharmacy to get my nausea meds refilled I got mad, too. My doctor gave me a prescription for thirty pills but apparently my insurance only covers twelve at a time. I told the pharmacist that whoever decided that only twelve pills could be covered at a time must never have had chemo.
I keep wanting to know what is next. I guess I will find this out when I meet with my Oncologist on Wednesday. Do I take Tamoxifen for five years and then talk about being "thrown" into early menopause? What does being "thrown" into early menopause mean? What will they do to "throw" me into early menopause? Will I not have my period for five years while taking Tamoxifen? And so on.
When it gets so overwhelming and I feel like I am going to loose it I think of my latest mantra: I am doing this for Daphne...doing this for Daphne...doing this for Daphne.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Chemo round # 3!
I have started my list of cancer perks. Here it is:
1. Getting free massages from wellness centers and Thousand Waves spa! Haven't used them yet but will!
2. Free therapy. Who doesn't need that?
3. When I was admitted to the hospital I was in an isolation room so I had my own room. Nice.
4. Free parking (when I was admitted to the hospital. I parked overnight for free)!
5. Complimentary new bra. Bras are so uncomfortable now with my breast still being sore and my arm is still sore from the surgery. So, once I have my new breast complete I will get fit for a new bra.
6. Make up. A few weeks ago I went to a make up seminar through Gilda's Club. I was the lesbian who wouldn't put on the make up because "people would see me" when I left. It was cute though. I wish I could have filmed it. I hate to say it but it is a sketch waiting to happen. I now have a new bag of free make up!
7. Wig. I went to the American Cancer Society in Evanston last week and got a free wig. It was fun.
8. No shaving! This one might need to be moved up to one of the top ones! Shaved legs a month ago and have just a little bit of stubble. Yippie for me and summer time!
9. No periods. Well, right now my ovaries don't know what is going on yet but my doc says that my period will stop for a while. If you know me - you know I hate periods and shaving so fluke? Yes or no. You tell me.
10. Which should probably be my number one but I am not there yet...I have realized that our bodies are pretty f-ing amazing! Arm heals. Breast skin expands. Body rejuvenates. In December I couldn't get up out of bed by myself for a week. I couldn't take off or put on my shirt or tie my shoes. I couldn't hold my daughter! I am not where I want to be yet but am keepin' the faith that I will be playing softball in a month.
I started a new term at Second City this past Monday and I could play Kitty wants a corner! Eight weeks ago I could not. It was that game this past Monday that made me smile and tear up. I have been wanting to feel normal for so long.
It was then that I also realized that I don't need that to feel normal. Monday night was also when I got sick of being afraid to be in public without a hat or a scarf. I was always ducking out to the bathroom to change from my winter cap to a scarf or just letting me head freeze in a scarf from the car to where ever I was going. I like the scarves and hats but I was tired of hiding behind them. I want to wear them because I WANT to not because I don't want anyone to know I have cancer.
I didn't get an allergic reaction this time to the chemo!
Talk soon.
Judy
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Since my last post
I added more pictures to my slide show. If you are curious to see what my fake breast looks like then check it out. If not, don't look.
I have Chemo this Wednesday again. I am kind of mad that it's that time again. I am over it. Even though it's every three weeks it seems like it's every week. My doc is having me take steroids two extra days around my chemo in hopes that that will help me to not have another allergic reaction. So, that means two extra days of crying. On the plus side I am going to work out this time around to see if I bulk up at all. Fingers crossed.
I went to the American Cancer Society this past Friday to get a free wig. It was fun! i went from being embarrassed to feeling like cancer girl to having fun. I laughed a lot. I think it was the most I laughed about cancer since I was diagnosed. It was a much needed laugh.
Talk to you all soon.
Judy
