Liv & Let…
“Live in the Moment”, “Live for Today”, “Let your Hair Down”, “Let your Light Shine” are all tough phrases to live by when you are a perfectionist. I’ve always been one to look 10 years down the road to make sure my life plans fall perfectly into place. These phrases took on a whole new meaning 4 years ago when I received a diagnosis that would forever change my life, how I live it, and how I let things happen.
In September of 2014, I found a lump under my arm and on my right breast. It took until February of 2015 to be diagnosed with stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma breast cancer; estrogen, progesterone, and Her-2 positive. I would later find out I was also positive for the BRCA (breast cancer) gene. My treatment regimen moved forward quickly. Before I started I went through IVF (In Vetro Fertilization) to save my eggs before they would be destroyed by chemo. I then went through 6 intense chemotherapy treatments (Taxotere® + Perjeta®) , Herceptin® -a 12 month treatment targeting the HER2 positive cells, a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy, reconstruction surgery, and completed 30 rounds of radiation.
A year from my diagnosis, I completed my treatment and entered into survivorship. I had completed all of my treatments and surgery, however now came the everyday worrying of what to do next to make sure my cancer stayed away. I would see my oncologist every 3 months for checkups, but there would be no more scans, no more chemo treatments, no more surgeries and no more visits to the radiologist. Survivorship to me, would end up being the most difficult part of all. My support system started to vanish, the little support that I had. Everyone felt that because my doctor had said I was “in remission” that I was healthy and feeling good. It was quite the opposite. The cancer had been removed and there was no other sign of it in my body, however the anxiety I already had continued to grow. Would it come back? Was the tamoxifen (estrogen receptor modulator) I was on going to keep it away? What would I need to do to make sure my cancer never came back?
It has taken a few years, but I am finally ready to share my story and pay it forward to help others who are affected by breast cancer. I will be sharing my experience and talking about the people, ideas and organizations that helped me get through my diagnosis - for them I am very grateful. I am now thriving because of new cancer friends, unique ideas and thoughtful organizations. I have since come across many more organizations that I know would have made a difference in my mind, body and lifestyle as a survivor. I look forward to learning more about them as a thriver. I want to share the many people, ideas and organizations with all of the previvors, survivors, thrivers and caregivers out there thriving through breast cancer.
I look forward to connecting with my readers to learn what type of resource I can be for them, what resources have been helpful to them and what support they could use. I know how tough it can be to find the support you are looking for especially when you are going through it for the first time. If I can do two things with this site, I would like to bring hope to the cancer fighter and help make their bad day a “good as it can be” kind of day to LIV & LET!
