My Journey with Triple Positive Breast Cancer

  Well then, what can I say after a year like 2022? I was browsing through the photos on my phone and noticed a distinct change in subject matter after my diagnosis. (We call the time before May 13, 2022, BC, or Before Cancer, and the time after as AC, After Cancer.) B.C. (Before Cancer) Beginning upper left and moving clockwise: 1) Sitting at my desk at work during happier times. 2) Ken and I in Victoria, BC, a month before my diagnosis. 3) The usual pair of Canadian Geese with their goslings on the patio at work. 4) My birthday in Canmore in February. 5) My seedlings from this past spring. Several things quickly become apparent: 1) I'm no longer at work and miss it a lot! 2) We haven't gone anywhere requiring a boarding pass since April. 3) I hope to be back at work before the geese return this year!  4) Look at that hair!! (I will never complain about my hair again. Ha! Who am I kidding, of course, I will...as soon as I have some to complain about! I now wear that hat when ...

  A nice outfit and hairdo are optional when it's just the 5 of us! I hope your Christmas celebrations were all you hoped they would be. 💗 Mine were distinctly more soggy than anticipated. Somehow, I think a near-death experience and a seven-month battle with cancer influenced our attitudes. Just the wonder of being around to celebrate Christmas is enough to soak a few tissues. Being alive is certainly my favorite gift! 😊 My eldest had his flight bumped from the 18th to the 19th and we were concerned it would be canceled, but with just a couple of hour's delay, he arrived as planned. After reading about all the delays and cancellations since then, I'm so grateful that he made it home at all! Being together as a complete family has certainly been another wonderful gift. I will never take preparing for Christmas for granted again. This year I started earlier than ever, knowing that there would be weeks (2 out of 3) where chemo would render me incapable of much. 😬 As a fami...

  I was given this print several years ago by a dear friend. As I looked at it the other day I realized that I've experienced the bliss this lamb  is feeling when I felt the presence of Jesus in the ICU. I was overcome by a sense of familiarity and recognition of having been in the same position. Words can't describe how incredible this felt.  It feels surreal. Ken and I were in Hinton for his usual monthly clinic last week, and as I unpacked today I looked at my Maxeran and Morphine, both of which have been very dear friends to me over the past 4 months, and realized that I was done with them. No longer will my watch alarm chime annoyingly at 7:00am, 11:00am, 3:00pm, 7:00pm, 11:00pm, and 3:00 am to remind me to take them. (Yes, I forgot if the alarm didn't sound.) No more Tylenol and Robaxin at 10:00am, 4:00pm, 10:00pm, and 4:00am anymore either. I feel seriously emancipated!  To be off all post-chemo medications this early after an infusion is nothing less than a g...

  "Come on, ring those bells, light the Christmas tree..."  This song will never be sung again without thinking of this moment. 😊 So today was a wee bit emotional...😊 I got to ring the bell to signal that I am done chemo! I still have 11 Herceptin infusions left, which will be finished on July 25, but apparently, when infused alone, Herceptin has few to no side effects. I can hardly wait! Today's infusion went very well; I am so grateful that I managed to have only boring infusions! Today's nurse was a former ICU nurse; does it show? What amazing lines!  My t-shirt reads:"Last Day of Chemo - God is Faithful"  (And that bandage on my arm is to reduce bruising. It works well!) Allow me to explain the importance of the plant beside which I'm standing. On a day not long after my surgery, Ken arrived home from work with this beautiful hibiscus. My first thought was "Oh great, a fussy plant I'm gonna' kill!" But, amazingly, we managed to k...

  No, they're not all full. Too many hungry humans in my house for that! But it's a good start. (Making sure you bake everyone's favorite means a lot of cookies!) Oh, and I use them to butter people up, etc. 😁 Every time I remember that tomorrow is my last chemo infusion, I tear up. No surprise there, but I think I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around the fact that this difficult part is almost over. Living life in a three-week cycle has become normal after 4 months! 😏 I still have Herceptin infusions every 3 weeks until late summer, but they only take 1/2 an hour and have much less in the way of side effects, basically nothing, which will be a relief!  At my usual oncologist's appointment on Friday, he again reiterated how impressed he is with my progress. The fact that I had knit the sweater I was wearing almost blew his mind, as neuropathy is a given with my chemo cocktail.  The lab was running behind, so we didn't have my blood test results at the t...

  Did you expect better at an 8 am appointment?!?  It was hard enough getting a photo with Ken's eyes open! 😁 Monday morning dawned bright and early at 8:19ish, (sunrise) by which time we were already waiting for the radiation oncologist, I having changed into the most stylish of gowns and been weighed. (I swear the tie-strings are just sewn on randomly; meanwhile, somewhere, someone is laughing manically as I try to figure out how not to flash anyone!) With my last chemo infusion scheduled for Monday afternoon, (I might be crying at that thought...😭) it is time to move on to the next and hopefully last stage of treatment.  Since the size of my largest tumor was 2.3cm, (And that's all that matters, they don't measure them all and add them together...thankfully. Otherwise, mine would be over 5 cm, with all 7 tumors accounted for... 😬) they opted to operate first in an attempt to get out as many cancerous cells as possible, then blast any laggards or sneaky mercenaries u...

  Not exactly reaching my step goals on days 3-5...(I believe this was Day 4, traditionally my worst day, counting the chemo infusion day as Day 1.) I'm no athlete, but I do usually average more than 5 times better than this total. (I commonly average between 3,500 and 6,000 steps per day.) However, I did have one day where I slept more than your average newborn! This is the reality of the first week of chemo after you've "gone a few rounds." I can't express how excited I am to be done with the worst of the chemo infusions (Docetaxel and Carboplatin) on December 5th, if all goes as planned. I still have another 11 Herceptin infusions (given every 3 weeks) but this is a targeted therapy, not chemo. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Oh, man. 😖 If you have ever suffered from anxiety, I have a new respect for you. I mean, you could probably run an Ironman on sheer willpower alone! I had no idea that Docetaxel can mess...