October 30, 2008 - Our Little Getaway

Clayton and I got away for a few days. We went alllllll the way to Indio! They have a great hotel out there called Fantasy Springs. We ate, we read, and we relaxed. We took photos one afternoon, and Clayton golfed one morning. It was pretty uneventful, which was just what we needed. We had long discussions about family and life goals. We had a great time!

Here is a picture I took while there.... (It's actually 5 pics stitched together using Photoshop)...

I started working out on Tuesday. I cannot believe how far I have to go to feel strong. I do most things normally, but don't ask me to open a jar or hold my arms in the air for more than 3 seconds! I'll get my strength back soon. :-)

October 24, 2008 - End of Treatment Celebration

I saw Dr. VanderMolen yesterday, and I told him how fatigued I feel. He said I should expect to feel the effects of radiation for two weeks after the end of radiation. I guess during the middle of next week I should be feeling better. I'll start working out again soon.

Clayton and I are heading out of town on a much needed vacation. We'll leave Saturday morning and we will be back Monday night, but it should still be fun. We'd love to take more time, but it's just not gonna work out.

I did my first photo shoot on Sunday. It was fun, but exhausting. I photographed some little babies - newborn to two years old, and I was on the ground much of the time - sitting, squatting, etc. while I took the pics. I slept for two hours afterward. I can't wait until I'm stronger so I can enjoy it more! Here's a pic of me leaving for my first shoot. I can't wait until my hair is long again.

Take care, and thanks for reading!

Sandy

October 14, 2008 - Treatments are Over!

Thanks for sticking with me through these treatments. Knowing that people care was a big part of helping me to get through treatments and remain positive during these last several months. You're the breast!

Yesterday was my final radiation treatment. Clayton and I had breakfast together and did a little shopping, and then I had to get back home and work. Yuk. (Metrics again). We'll take a 3-day vacation towards the end of the month to celebrate treatment completion.

All that is left now is getting my strength back and doing follow-up visits with my oncologist, my radiation oncologist, and my surgeon.

To sum up the good and the bad about my cancer experience...

Good:

• God's Grace
• Loving support from family and friends, especially the unending support from my soul mate, Clayton
• Ability to remain positive and take things one day at a time
• Early detection!!! Don't forget that I found the highly aggressive tumor 4 months after a mammogram!
• Great doctors and nurses and receptionists
• A wake up call to take action toward accomplishing what I love to do
• Beautiful, heartfelt emails, cards, calls, and other gifts
• The survivors I've had conversations with and the ones I've read about
• All of the women who went before me who did trial treatments so that I could get a treatment plan that was appropriate for my specific type of breast cancer
• Carried on with my normal activities for the most part
• Fortunate enough to be able to work from home
• Never vomited from chemotherapy
• Ability to work nearly full-time through treatments
• Meals prepared for me (although that's not much different from before my diagnosis!)
• No shaving of armpits and legs for months on end. Nice!
• Seeing my scalp (never thought I would)
• No blowdryers or curling irons for months
• New skin on my feet (weird, I know, but no more calluses!)
• Reading time
• Ability to understand what women faced who've been through a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation
• Ability to share my experiences in the future (via this blog or otherwise) with women who are faced with a similar diagnosis
• Growing back hair, eyelashes, and eyebrows
• Being finished with treatments
• I'm still here!!!

Bad:

• Getting my diagnosis
• Difficulty of watching friends and family react to my diagnosis
• Needle biopsies (both of them)
• Lumpectomy
• Chemotherapy
• Radiation
• Needles
• Hair loss
• Wigs
• Shingles during chemo
• Having the same cold from the day before chemo until it ended (4 months)
• Numbness in fingers and feet (still)
• Fatigue (still)
• Lack of food taste during adriamycin (chemo) treatments
• Losing my eyelashes and eyebrows after chemo was over
• Reduction of strength

Take care of yourselves. Thank you for everything. I'll update after follow-up appointments. Please have your loved ones do their self-exams. Don't ignore changes in breast tissue. Your life could depend upon it.

- Sandy

October 11, 2008 - Genetic Testing for BRCA Gene

Yesterday I had an appointment with a genetic counselor to learn about genetic testing and what a positive result (for the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 gene) would mean for me and my blood relatives.

Here was what the genetic counselor explained to me. At least, this is what I remember that she said to me. Caveat: Please do not assume this information is accurate. Genetic counselors went to college for this and they get paid to explain this to you, so I would use one if you need an accurate description!

Here goes:

Ninety percent of cancers are sporadic, meaning they were most likely not created due to a hereditary nature. Five to ten percent of cancers are hereditary. Five to ten percent are familia, but I will not go into that at all here (since I know nothing about it).

Thinking about a single cell in a person's body....
Everyone has two copies of every gene in every cell. Let's think about one cell and one set of genes. And let's say sunlight (for example) damages one gene, then you're left with only one of the two genes. No problem. Let's say the next summer that remaining gene gets destroyed by sunlight. Now the cell that is missing both of those genes (if it needs to grow) starts growing and doesn't know when to stop. It can cause cancer. That's how the sporadic cancers begin.

For the hereditary cancers....
Still thinking about a single cell and each cell having two copies of every gene in every cell....
From mom or dad, there might already be one missing gene in every cell of a person's body. Now if that remaining gene get's destroyed by something (e.g., sunlight), it can cause cancer.

So you can see that HEREDITARY cancers happen because they NEED only ONE chance to destroy a gene and have cells grow out of control. Whereas SPORADIC cancers NEED to have BOTH genes get destroyed before the cells have a chance to grow out of control.

I had a blood test yesterday to test for the BRCA gene. It's called BRACA testing, and it tests specifically for the BRCA genes, which are the genes known to be associated with breast cancer. I'll get the results in a few weeks. Of course, I won't share the results on my blog. The results, if shared, can have an impact on future employment, medical insurance, etc.

I expect the result to be negative. What does a positive result mean? A positive result means that I have a 40 to 50% chance of getting ovarian cancer. Yuk. I don't remember my chances of a recurrence of breast cancer. I'll have to email my counselor to find out. A positive result would also mean that my sister and my son have a 50% chance of also testing positive. Since my son is only 11, we wouldn't even discuss testing until he is an adult, and it would be his decision to get tested. If he chose to test and he tested positive, then he would have a 6% chance of getting male breast cancer and a 20% chance of getting prostate cancer. If there's a positive result, my sis might want to get tested to see if she also carries the gene. If it's negative, we can conclude that she is also negative. If she was to test positive, then she would have an 85% chance of getting breast cancer over her lifetime.

I hope that wasn't too boring, and I hope it was semi-accurate!!!

Monday is my final radiation treatment. Woo hoo!

October 8, 2008 - Radiation - Part 2 Begins

I finished my first part of radiation, which was 28 weekday treatments of full-breast radiation. Woo hoo! After 6 weeks of wearing them, I finally got to take off those ugly stickers covering my blue x's. Now I only have that kidney shaped circle around my scar. I'm into my 'boost', which is 5 treatments focused on my scar. On Monday, 10/13/08, I'll be finished!!!

The nurse asked me about my energy level. When I told her I get winded pretty easily and that I'm pretty fatigued, she assured me it's the radiation. It's really been difficult to try to relax until my treatments are over. I keep thinking that if I walk and exercise I'll get stronger, but I'm not getting stronger. I just get more tired. She said it'll take a couple of weeks after my treatments end before I feel like doing anything toward getting back to my old self. What did I feel like in March? I can't wait to rediscover it.

I've been getting a little braver by leaving my hat at home and going out au-naturel (actually -- I leave it in the car - just in case I crumble). I have enough hair to almost look like I've cut it this short on purpose. I went to Starbucks last night and ordered coffee, and the young girl behind the counter said, "I love your hair!" WHAT? Wow. I didn't see that coming. THANK YOU!

Thanks for being patient during my times of not updating this blog. I'll get back to you on 10/13 to tell you how it feels to be finished!

October 1, 2008 - Results of Susan G. Komen (Walk) for the Cure

Copied from the Komen website - Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure and launched the global breast cancer movement.

Sunday was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Orange County. What a day! It was a moving day. It's already heartwrenching to think about how many women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime (1 in 8), but to see so many in one place ... Oh my gosh. It was overwhelming. I have a sweet friend who just emailed me about her diagnosis. Surgery is tomorrow and chemo follows 3 weeks later, with reconstruction after that. My prayers are with her, her husband, her 3 children, and the rest of her family. We have to stop this disease from affecting our families so much! We have to continue to spread the word about doing monthly self-checks, annual mammograms, ultrasounds, and MRI's. The rest is up to the research teams that continue to search for a cure. Thank you so much to all who walked with me and to all who donated money to show their support. It is very much appreciated! You all donated approximately $1400 via my personal page! Good job!!!

Our group of 11 finished the walk, and, as my Aunt Betty would have said, "I was tuckered out!" My family went to brunch afterward, and I had two small glasses of champagne, followed by zero water the rest of the afternoon. Yeah.... um.... don't EVER do that after exercise. I ended up with a migraine that evening, mucho vomiting, and a call to my oncologist. My poor hubby ended up with a ton of worry and no sleep until midnight.

As a side note, at brunch I had a plate of halibut fish and sweet potato fries. Why fried food? I don't know! But check out my plate! How strange is it that I got all straight fries and only one large fry shaped like ..... a breast cancer ribbon! I showed it to the manager, and he was blown away. He asked me if I bent the fry in that shape. Ummmmmm? Nope.

I finally got a little bit of "ME" time today. After radiation, I took an hour-long walk at the beach in Newport. It was me, the beach, and my iPod. I could easily make a daily habit of that combo.

Clayton had purchased a new camera for my birthday last month, and it arrived yesterday! I am the proud owner of a new Canon 50D. Wow. What a great camera! I have to leave my blog so I can go play with it!

Gotta run. Take care. Do those self checks!

Hugs and many blessings,

Sandy