BuiltaLife

Offering hope to those on the path behind me

Tag: breast cancer (Page 3 of 5)

It never dawned on me it might be cancer again

02/26/2016 / / 0 Comments

Life returned to normal after a while. My hair grew back. Kids had school. I had work. I saw my oncologist a couple of times a year and eventually, I even ‘graduated’ to once a year.

After a few years, it was like that time in our life was just a little blip on the radar. It was something that was in our rear All clear for over 5 yearsview mirror. No need to look back. Time to move forward and enjoy life again.

Each year came and went….2004…2005…2006…2007…2008…2009… Until…

 

May 2010 – I began working out with my youngest daughter. She had a friend who wanted her to run cross-country with her the next school year. I decided I would go with her to the school and get in shape. I even had the app Couch to 5K to help both of us with the training.

I noticed my lower back was hurting. Since we had just started working out, I thought my body was just mad at me for trying to run/walk several days a week. I pushed through and continued to go to the school with her for a few more weeks.

As the summer went on, it would seem to get better and then I would do something else that would cause pain. There was always some kind of explanation for the pain. Once I stepped off a stool after changing a light bulb and it hurt again. Always it would seem to get better after some rest.

In August, my oldest daughter and I drove to St. Louis to visit family. When we got there I could barely get out of the car. My sister in-law made an appointment with her chiropractor. I went several times the week we were there and again, it seemed to be helping.

When I got home I found a local chiropractor and began seeing him regularly.

October 2010 – I could no longer explain away the pain. I made an appointment to see my regular doctor and a friend offered to drive me. At that point it still had not dawned on me that cancer might be the cause for my pain.

After a brief visit, the doctor sent me for x-rays. When I came back she told me there were 3 possibilities: 1) I had a hairline fracture in my hip that was causing the pain, 2) I might have cancer and 3) I honestly do not know what she said as my mind was racing about hearing cancer again. Surely this was not happening again.

She told me I needed to use crutches and keep as much weight off my leg as possible. As we got to the car, my friend made a comment about how calm I was when the doctor said ‘cancer’. Little did she know I was falling apart on the inside.

Confetti, a Bell and a Certificate – Treatment is Finished

02/08/2016 / / 0 Comments

At the door to the infusion room there is a bell. I didn’t really notice it at first. Then, while I was sitting there with drugs dripping into my veins, someone rang the bell and the nurses threw confetti signifying they had finished their treatment.

I got to ring the bell. Eight total treatments from November to April. It was a small celebration, with confetti and  a certificate indicating my treatment was complete. OK. But what’s next?

After a few weeks I had my follow-up appointment with the doctor. For me, treatment was really complete yet. I still had a cycle of radiation to go. I met with the radiation oncologist, who just happened to be downstairs, and got my orders.

Before beginning radiation, I had to have my “pillow” made. So many new and unique experiences that unless you have had cancer you do not understand. The pillow has some sort of beads in it and you lie on it in just the right position. Somehow the pillow becomes a mold that allows you to stay in the same position for all of your treatments. Every day, they pull out your pillow and away you go watching the machine rotate around you and zapping radiation into targeted areas to kill any more cancer cells that might be left.

Radiation is a long process, but it does not take very long. That must sound strange. The actual radiation treatment only took about 10 minutes once I was on the table. But, it was 10 minutes every day for 20 days (no weekends).

I would schedule the radiation treatment either first thing in the morning or later in the afternoon depending on my schedule. Since the office was about half way between work and home it was very convenient (convenient – not really a word I thought I would ever use when talking about cancer).

The radiation does not have many immediate side effects. While I was getting my radiation treatment it was just another appointment on the calendar. However, as the radiation began to accumulate, I became more tired and it was harder to have energy for much more than getting up, going to work and driving home.

The most memorable experience of the radiation treatment was AFTER  it was completed. A few days after I received my last treatment I woke up and realized I felt like I had the worst sunburn I have ever had in my life (if you recall, my cancer is breast cancer, so putting on a bra was impossible, sorry guys if that is too much information).

Once again, God showed how he is in the small stuff. My radiation treatment ended just before out offices closed for a week for the July 4th holiday. I had a full week to sleep, recover and heal my burn before I had to return to work.

 

Confetti congrats

Another bell, another confetti celebration and another certificate of completion….But What Is Next?

 

New Christmas Tradition

12/03/2015 / / 2 Comments

We started a new Christmas tradition without even knowing it.

To this day I’m still amazed how things worked out. God’s handprints were in the details  (that is likely why I’m still here to share my story).

The chemo schedule worked out once again such that I only missed 2 days of work for my treatment. Working at a school district certainly had its advantages. My December treatment was scheduled for the 18th. That meant that the next two weeks I was off of work – yes, even administrators get the 2 weeks off at Christmas.

Having had no complications for the first 2 treatments, I was feeling confident that things were going to go well. My husband, as he always did, went with me to the infusion. Afterward, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal out and a little Christmas shopping while the girls were still in school. We went to Johnny Carino’s and had some really good Italian food.

All was well. We got home and settled in to watch Thursday night TV. Then Friday morning came. And it hit me. Sorry Johnny, but I haven’t been back since that day. I know it had nothing to do with the food itself, but the richness got to me on top of the chemo. I will spare you the gory details, but that was the only time I ever got sick during my treatments.  (I’m sure that if I hadn’t changed my diet to gluten-free, I would have made it back to the restaurant at some point).

My girls were 8 and 5 and did not understand truly what was going on. They knew mommy was sick and they were so sweet to snuggle with me on the couch. We had 2 weeks ahead of us to enjoy as a family.

When you are undergoing treatment for cancer, it is easier to see the real meaning of Christmas. It is not about the lights on the house and the perfect decorations. It is about sharing time with your family and making memories.Christmas Tradition

We started a new tradition that year at Christmas that we still enjoy to this day. Each of us received a new movie in our stockings. Stockings in our family are a huge deal. We love discovering all of the fun things that are in them. Finding a new movie was a huge hit.

The couch, the TV, popcorn and movies. It is the way we have spent Christmas day ever since. I can count on my kids (I keep calling them kids, but they are now 20 and 17, they will always be my kids) to let me know the DVD’s that are coming out around Christmas so that the stockings are filled with movies that will be enjoyed for days and years to come.

My favorite holiday movie is The Holiday.  What is yours?

Is that what is meant by Support?

10/08/2015 / / 0 Comments

This new life was scary for all of us. But we were especially concerned about our daughters as I was about to start chemo. Mom was going to lose her hair, she was not going to feel well, and well, who knows what else the next few months were going to hold.

We decided to go to the elementary school and meet with the girls’ teachers and administration so they were aware of what was happening at home and could help keep an eye on how they were handling things.

My oldest was in second grade at the time. Her teacher was an angel (in fact, she was later my younger daughter’s teacher too). When we told her about the diagnosis and that I would be starting chemo soon, she asked if she could add me to her prayer list at church. Of course, a few more prayers would never hurt.

Then she told me about a support group at her church for women with breast cancer. She asked if I would be interested in going. Honestly, I had never really had any need for a support group before, but this was new territory.

I agreed to go.

Looking back, I wish I had said no. We had a great support system from our friends, family and church. But I didn’t listen to that little voice. Continue reading

Surgery, Round 2…A Plan for Chemo

09/17/2015 / / 0 Comments

The world continued around me even though it felt like mine was falling a part.

My children still had to get up and go to school. I still had a job (that one that I just started in August). I had to continue to get up out of bed each morning and figure out how to make it through the day.

In 2003, my girls were 8 and 5, respectively. They did not understand what was going on with mom. They just knew that I was home and that climbing on me was uncomfortable for me, but as any mom will attest, the best medicine is a good snuggle from her kids.

Somehow I made it through the weekend and Wednesday came. It was time to go back to the hospital for round 2 of the lumpectomy. In addition to trying to get clear margins around the tumor, the surgeon was also going to remove some lymph nodes to determine if the cancer had gone beyond the breast. Continue reading

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