Surviving Cancer - A Memoir

In my post dated January 7, 2013, I mentioned that my students challenged me to write my memoir because I was making them write theirs.  I sucked it up and, per their suggestion, wrote about the 8 months that I spent going though breast cancer treatment.  I had planned on giving copies of the story to my students today, but forgot to make the copies.  So instead one of my students asked if she could read it aloud.  I thought "that's a pretty good idea."  She did a credible job especially as it's filled with unfamiliar (to her) medical terms.  Of course, the rest of my Huck Finn lesson plan went right out the window because they asked a boatload of follow-up questions.  Oh well, that's okay.  Tomorrow's another day to talk about Huck and Jim and their trip down the Mississippi River.

I can't imagine that anyone would remotely care to read this romp down mammary lane (pun intended), but if you would like to read my memoir, you can access it here:  Surviving Cancer - A Memoir.

Here's a little preview:

"You have cancer."  The three most dreaded words in the English language and my gynecologist just spoke them to me over the phone.  The date was Thursday, September 6, 2007..."

<shrugs>  Despite what my students said, I don't think it's very good, but I would be interested in getting some constructive feedback if anyone has any.  It would be just for me to improve my writing and not because I plan on ever publishing this tale. Happy reading.

The Big "C"!!

I haven't had the opportunity to blog for the past few months because I have been busy dealing with medical issues. Yep, at the age of 41, I was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in my left breast. This is not the kind of news that is enjoyable to receive. Here is the story:

In July, I went for my annual mammogram. The radiologist discovered a small tumor and had me go back to her office in August for additional films and a sonogram of the area. Then I went back later in August to have a needle biopsy to verify what they suspected was a cancerous tumor (although they didn't actually say that to me). By early September, the results were back and my gynecologist called with the news. Then it was just a laundry list of things that needed to be done: Meet with a surgeon, have additional tests for genetic typing, have my surgery (a lumpectomy), find out that the lymph nodes were clear (Whew!), heal from the surgery, meet with the oncologist, go through chemotherapy for 3 months (Joy!), meet with the radiation oncologist, 6 weeks of radiation treatment. I'm currently at the point where I'm winding down from my radiation treatment. It has been six months of hell. I can't wait to go on vacation in April.

The only "good" thing about having gone through all this is that I was not working and could make the appointments that I needed, when I needed them. Of course, not having a job was a double-edged sword because I also did not have any money regularly coming in. But I will say that for the most part, my spirits were high. I still kept going to college and have kept my 4.0 GPA despite going through hell and back.

I want to get on my soapbox for a minute and tell all you women out there who are around 40 to be sure to get that baseline mammogram. For the women over 40, it really is important to have an annual mammogram. In just 13 short months, I developed a 0.6 cm tumor and if it had not been caught as quickly as it had, who knows how large or how catastrophic my diagnosis might have been. As for me, I have 5 years to go before I can say for sure that I'm cancer-free, but I will keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. Good health!