It's a New Year, 2014!!! Hi All, It's been a while and again, mom says I need to update this:) In November I saw my oncologist. I have officially been moved to the every 6 months checkup with NO SCANS! I will still get a breast MRI annually but no more CT scans unless something strange shows up in my bloodwork. This is a double edged sword for me. On one hand, it's amazing that I've come this far over the past 5 years, I'm almost there. On the other hand, it's terrifying to think that there's nobody checking things at least a couple of times a year. The CT scans are to check your internal organs, to make sure there's no cancer spreading anywhere else in your body that needs to get kicked out. I suppose all cancer patients, that make it this far, go through this. It's just hard to know when it's alright to let go and stop worrying. I guess I'll never stop worrying, it's just my nature. I'll just try not to think about it...happy thoughts, happy thoughts! May 2014 will be my 5 year anniversary from the 2nd tumor battle and 6 years from the first. It's exciting and a blessing. I'm so thankful that God is taking care of me and my family. Will says he talks to God every night now. He tells me that God says we'll be alright and he's got our Angels in Heaven watching over us. (he names Grampy, Grampa Billi, & Bella...too cute!) I believe him, kids have such an open mind and can see and feel things our cynical minds can't. All I can say is I'm glad I have an Angel in my little boy to watch over me :) Love to ALL!! E

All Good Again!

Good news today...MRI was all clear, cancer marker is still low, blood counts are up, All Good! She even agreed to give me hormones!!! I've moved up to the every 6 month checkup from every 3 months too! 1 1/2 years until the 5 yr mark! Bring it on 40! Can't wait for 42!

It's been a while...

Hi all, it's been a while since I posted (according to my mom:)).

I had my checkup in December and all seems to be good. She says my blood levels are stable, no reason to believe anything is wrong.

The spot in my back is still bothering me, but I'm not ready to do an MRI to find out what it is. I am very claustrophobic in the MRI and must drug myself to oblivion to do it. I have a breast MRI scheduled in the summer, if it's still bothering me then, I will do the back at the same time. My chiropracter seems to think it's a muscle that is attached to one of my ribs and it just needs to be rehabbed.

I can't figure out what the heck I did. The only thing I can come up with is the rope swing, into the lake this summer. Thank you Mike Fox and my kids for dogging me into doing it! Those of you who know me, know I am not the most coordinated person. So, here's how it went: I screamed like a girl, let go with one hand, eyes closed the whole time and forgot to let go with my right. I slid down the rope until I hit the big knot on the end jerking my arm/shoulder and then let go. Oh, and then I hit the water on my side...it was like falling on the ground. It was fun...never do it again...glad I did it, but now I'm paying for it. Those of us over 30 know, or at least we should know, that we can't do this crap anymore! Ah, life lessons!

Talk to you next time I get a checkup!

Love,
E

Short documentary of my battle

Hi everyone... here is a short documentary about my battle with cancer that a friend of mine did for me.

www.4mycommunity.tv

Scroll down and you'll see a tab with a breast cancer ribbon and my name.

E

December 2010

Jason reminded me that this week is 3 yrs since my diagnosis, December 18th. What an insane ride it's been. Thankfully, I'm cancer free for my 2nd Christmas in a row!

I had surgery 2 weeks ago to have 2 more lumps removed from my right side. They were both benign, thank God. I also had my reconstruction fixed again. The left implant started to slip so I had stitches put in my pec muscle to hold it up. That was sore for a few weeks but I'm good now.

I'm looking forward to a Maine Christmas this year. It's been 5 years since we've had one. Between winter babies and cancer, I've been in Texas for the past 5 Christmases. I'm praying for a little snow since there isn't any right now, a white Christmas will make my holiday!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Love,
E

Bras for a Cause

I just wanted to tell everyone about the most amazing, fun and heartwarming fundraiser that I've been a part of yet. It's called Bras for a Cause. My co-worker and friend, Emily, started it last year because her mom & grandma had breast cancer. I joined the committee in August and we just had the event on October 20th. We got sponsors who decorated a bra and entered them into a live, runway auction. The bras were modeled by shirtless local firemen, who were pretty cute! They shook their stuff and we had an auctioneer going to town to sell these bras. One went for over $2,000! It was so much fun and I am so glad that I was a part of it. Right before the auction started, they played a video that was filmed weeks before of survivors and friends & family of breast cancer patients. I was one of them. It was very moving to see myself talking about it on a 20 ft tall screen. You can see pictures of the event at proofs.coburnphotography.com. Thanks everyone, it was the best fudnraiser ever, I can't wait until next year!

Another Scare 10/2010

So, here we go again. Another October, another scare. I went for my 3 month checkup and my oncologist felt a bump on my right side. She thought it was scar tissue or a wrinkle in my implant but she wanted me to see my plastic surgeon to be sure. So, I got in to see him that same afternoon and got the same reaction, "I think it's the implant or scar tissue". "I think" is not ok in my book anymore. He wanted to see me again in 6 weeks, so I said ok. That was Wednesday, by Monday, I had an ultrasound scheduled because it was driving me nuts wondering and worrying. The ultrasound showed no mass but she said U/S is only 40% accurate so I needed an MRI. Off we go to the imaging center for the MRI a week later. That is so fun, laying on your face with your boobs in a box with 2 holes cut out for an hour! So uncomfortable. I drug myself with Ativan (like Xanax but stronger) before I go since I'm claustrophobic. The next day the results were in, no signs of mailgnancy. Phew, dodged another bullet! SO VERY SICK OF OCTOBERS!
Love, E