Ok let’s be real, today is the day. In a few hours I will be heading to Spectrum Butterworth for a few different surgeries. I will be having phase two of my breast reconstruction including fat and tissue grafting, my port removal, and I will also be having my tubes and ovaries taken out with a frozen section biopsy being taken while I’m in surgery to rule out any current risk. I know I should be sleeping right now, but sleep is one thing I have yet to conquer so I am writing instead.
My Occupational therapist asked me to join her this past Wednesday as she gave a guest lecture to Grand Valley State University’s Graduating OT students on both Lymphedema and Auxiliary Web Syndrome. I really thought that I was just going to be laying on a table pretending that it didn’t hurt as she demonstrated how to treat the cording that runs down my arm and across my chest. What she didn’t tell me was that she was also going to have me share the details of my Breast Cancer journey with the class.
So it seems that confusion and emotion come even with the best of news when you’re dealing with the awful “c-word”. Although yesterdays test results are lifting me up, the fact that I have been feeling really weak and dizzy the past few days is reminding me that this is still my reality and in a way, always will be. I keep telling myself and others that I am fine but those closest to me are saying that I seem a bit withdrawn or even distant these days so maybe I am not as fine as I think I am.
I met with my amazingly sweet surgical oncologist today. It seems like forever since I have seen her, but she and my chemo nurse greeted me with a big smile, a hug, and told me I look incredible which made me feel good. I am still very anxiously waiting on the results from my blood work, but I’m happy to report my appointment went well. I do have some residual painand loss of mobility in my arms due to the double mastectomy, so she sending me to the Spectrum Health Star Oncology Rehabilitation Program for physical therapy and she is also putting me into a acupuncture trial that treats the awful side effects to the hormone therapy I am on. But otherwise things are looking pretty good and I am still on track for 3 of my surgeries on December 15th. Fingers crossed my labs come back good and my breast cancer marker has went down…
Photo was taken the day Dr. Melnik told me I needed Chemo and radiation.
Sometimes the post chemo look makes the best Halloween Costumes.
#mypersonalpinktime #GIJANE #kickingcancersass
A few months back I was asked to be a part of a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer video that highlighted what the word “pink” meant to those of us who have been faced with Breast Cancer here in West Michigan. At the time the word pink did symbolize a great deal for me because I was going through the hardest of my treatments, however I don’t think I really understood how impactful the color itself was until this past weekend as I walked in my first ever Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. The entire day was amazing. I was surrounded by my family, friends, and a community of supporters who have walked this path before. As we started the walk, a sea of pink lined the streets of Grand Rapids and I realized that seeing a pink ribbon no longer triggered the fear of my reality. In fact the color itself has almost taken on a whole new emotion and lifted me up. It surrounds me like a giant hug and forever changes the way I feel when I see the color pink. It now serves as a reminder that I am not alone in this fight, and most importantly it reminds me that I can win this fight.
15 years ago I was a nanny to this awesome young lady and her sister, 6 years ago my husband and I were honored to have their entire family take part in our wedding, and this month she is honoring me by wearing my name on the back of her “pink” volleyball jersey. Although seeing this photo made me tear up a bit this morning, I could not think of a better photo to wake up too! I feel so blessed to have so many amazing people in my corner.
For nearly 7 months now I have spent at least part of almost everyday at Lemmon Holton Cancer Pavilion but I’m happy to announce that as of today, I am officially done with my hardest treatment phases (chemo and radiation). I am still feeling the effects of the treatment fatigue, my chest, underarm, and back are quite burned from radiation and I am having some pain and mobility loss in my left arm, wrist, and fingers but otherwise I am actually doing quite well and my doctors are very pleased with how I have come out of all of this. At this point, we are really hoping the pain and loss of mobility in my arm are from the 28 radiation treatments that I had, however my Radiation Oncologist is sending me to the Lymphedema Clinic at LH to make sure it’s not the start of Lymphedema. Fingers crossed it is from radiation and it will not be something that I will always have to deal with.
I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated and a lot of you have been wondering how I am but, I thought I would take a little social media break after I finished my chemo treatments.
A lot has happened, but the biggest updates are that I had a clean bone scan after bone and joint pain sent me back to my oncologist’s office. And…. I think the chemo is finally getting out of my system because I am feeling much better then I was the last time I posted. I am also over the halfway hump of radiation with only 8 treatments left to complete. I’m still dealing with a lot of weakness and fatigue in addition to the obvious burning from radiation, however I can confidently say that radiation treatments are far more tolerable then chemo.
You can see the chemo effects on me in this video, but both Jordan and I were honored to be apart of this video and are even more honored to be a part of this origination. If you’re looking for an origination to join, I cannot think of one better then The American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.
Race Day: Oct 24th, 2015
#mypersonalpinktime