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Breast Cancer Awareness
October 8, 2007
Liz Kreger is an author who's book,
Forget About Tomorrow, is available now as an ebook, but has a printed release scheduled in February. Liz is also a breast cancer survivor. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I'd like to dedicate this blog today to all who's lives have been touched by this horrific disease. Liz was willing to share her story with us.
I know a lot of people seem to think that this is a disease that’s common among older women. Imagine my surprise when the biopsy came back positive for breast cancer. Me? Cancer? Naw! I was only 35 years old. I led a fairly health lifestyle (if you discounted the occasional junk food orgy I indulged in), worked out regularly and there was no family history.
It wasn’t even a lump that I found, but a dimple. Don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a doctor tell me to look for a dimple on your breast. They’ve always touted "do your self-examinations and watch for a lump". But a dimple appeared just above my right breast and during a routine checkup I mentioned it to my doctor. She was all over it.
Within weeks I had the biopsy (involving numerous four letter words on my part), a mastectomy and scheduled for chemo ... just to be on the safe side.
Fast forward to where I about to hit my seven year mark of being cancer free ... the holy grail. My left hip was bugging me, but because I’d just started taking Tae Kwon Do, I figured I did something. By this time I’d been seeing my oncologist on a yearly basis and he immediately ordered a battery of tests. Sonavabitch! The cancer had metastasized to my hip. This time it was radiation that knocked it out.
I was carefully monitored after that and within two years, the little suckers were back again. Now we’re into heavy duty chemo. Six doses, once every three weeks. This is where I lost my hair (absolutely everywhere), endured a yucky feeling 24/7, lost 15 pounds (which was good), and this is the one and only time I tossed my cookies. Peppermint is great for an upset stomach, by the way. This was followed by weekly infusions of Herceptin in an attempt to keep the cancer off ... but no dice. Came back again and I went through a slightly stronger bout of chemo. Pissed me off, too, because I’d just gotten my hair back. Same deal as far as reactions go.
The final session was August of 2006. By December we discovered it had returned for a fifth time. Or, as I call it, Round Five of the Great Cancer Battle. We’re on top of it again. New drug called Tykerb which is touted as the wonder drug for a lot of cancer patients. Seems to be working for me. It’s an oral chemo that I’ll probably have to take for the rest of my life. I can live with that ... literally.
Now here's something you can do to help and it's free. Just go to the Breast Cancer site and click on the pink box in the middle. If 10 of us were to go to the site everyday for a month, 300 women would be able to get mamograms who don't have insurance or can't afford the cost of a mammogram.
Bottom line: Get a mammo, do self exams...it's the breast (I mean best) thing you can do for yourself.
Posted by Barbara Vey on October 8, 2007 | Comments (21)
