The End of Active Treatment

The end of active treatment…  I finished my radiation regimen this past Wednesday (5/22), so I am officially done with active treatment.  I am excited to be done with the grueling part of all of this, but I have not exactly breathed my sigh of relief yet.  That will come after my CT scan on June 25^th and I get the “all clear” from the oncologist.  I’m still not optimistic, but I’ve got to live my life while I’m alive, you know?

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted any update, but it’s because I’ve been busy!  No news is good news, remember? 

I started radiation on Monday, April 1^st.  I wasn’t exactly thrilled with my doctor (not a bad doc, just not a comfortable fit for me), but I absolutely loved the techs who treated me every day.  They really took the time to get to know ME and they were really flexible with my time slot since we had to squeeze treatment into the hubby’s lunch hour in order NOT to arrange for a babysitter.  I cooked (pardon the pun) along for 5 weeks, everything going according to plan.  My skin got progressively worse as often happens with this type of treatment.  Once my skin broke open I couldn’t get comfortable at all.  I couldn’t put my arm down as the rawness was essentially in my armpit.  I couldn’t wear clothes because the slightest friction made me wince.  About a week after this (and a prescription for Vicodin and Silvadene), the doc looked at my skin and said NOPE, not treating until healed.  At first we hoped it would only take a couple of days, but as it got worse instead of better, the doctor mentioned not even finishing.  I was so disappointed since I only had 5 treatments left.  I was so ready to be done, and even though I had thought about quitting on multiple occasions, I really wasn’t ready to throw in the towel on my chances…  After almost a two week break, I was given the green light to continue and I finally finished.  I am now healing.  J

I need your support.  I have decided to participate in a fundraiser for an organization that has been my life line during all of this- the Young Survival Coalition.

 When I was first diagnosed and began sharing my news with people, I heard so many “My mom beat breast cancer” and “my aunt is a 5 year survivor” and “my grandma was diagnosed 15 years ago and is doing great…”  While I know those words were said as encouragement and support, it only made me feel more isolated.  I was TWENTY EIGHT years old.  These were older women, the “normal” age range for women diagnosed.  I was not one of them.  My life is totally different than theirs.  So I actively sought out women like me.  JUST LIKE ME.  Women who were young with aggressive forms of breast cancer.  I found YSC in my searching and joined their online community.  At that time, the site wasn’t incredibly active as a community, but the wealth of information I got from the site was so valuable.  My first act as a cancer patient was ordering YSC’s Treatment Navigator.

I found YSC on Facebook.  I needed to chat with real women any time of day.  I needed to ask questions that people actually had answers to- not the questions that my doc gave me general answers to.  I think my first post to them, in the miserable first weekend after my first chemo treatment was “How do you do it?”  Meaning how do you make it through all this crap in order to live your life?  The women of the YSC gave me the best answer, even though cliché, you do it one day at a time.  I now have a tattoo to remind me that “with the new day comes new strength.”  There are women there who are in my exact shoes, stage III, little children, trying to work and take care of their families as well as themselves.  There are women there who are worse off than me, stage IV, fighting to live their lives as best as possible.  There are women who are 10+ years survivors and others who are even more freshly diagnosed than me.  It is a wonderful community of support and they reached their goal with me.  I learned through them that I am NOT alone.

So I am planning to participate in their Tour de Pink at the end of September.  It’s a 3 day bike ride from Philadelphia PA to Washington DC.  I have not been on a bike in YEARS, so this is going to take a lot of training and effort for me.  Hubby has agreed to participate with me, so I am asking you to please, please,  please help us make it worth it.  I have never had the inclination to give back, but I feel so strongly about giving back to YSC.  PLEASE.  I have not registered yet, I want to see how many of you will support the YSC before I choose the 3 day ride or the 1 day ride.  I would love to do the 3 day, but that all depends on YOU.  Oh, and is anyone interested in riding with us??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PZ4KvKmGcM&feature=share&list=PLWo_SAuUiK_N2xEa6usavs10OA6okAwn0