My friends in the Newbies Nest suggested that it might be therapeutic to author a thread about this cancer battle that I suddenly (just this week) found myself immersed in. I agree with them, especially the one with all the chickens. You just don't argue with her.
I'm still kind of reeling from the new diagnosis and trying to learn the lingo. Trust me, words like "oncologist" and "invasive" are not words that you want in your vocabulary. But enough grousing. Let's start the thread on a more positive note with:
Things I Have Survived and Beaten During my Lifetime
Now, there are many other things, and I'll write about the less-life-threatening ones for fun in a subsequent post. For now, suffice it to say that I'm somewhat resilient and therefore, I think my chances here are pretty decent. When I was a kid, my favorite toy was one of those "super balls." Remember them? They were sort of blue-black and made of an amazing sort of rubber that made them bounce much higher than they ought to. Perhaps, while playing, I absorbed some of their properties.
In the other corner, we have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, 2.5 mm, Grade 3 (highly aggressive), triple positive (fast-replicating) just hanging out there in my left breast, just being an ugly nuisance, not unlike husband #2.
Ding. Ding. Ding... Round 1 begins next Friday with a lumpectomy and lymph node biopsy. Then we'll know if it spread, which has all sorts of ramifications that I'm not allowing myself to think about just before going to bed.
Before I close this post, leaving you all hanging, there are a few simple Rules to this Thread
1. I intend to be honest but not graphic. You won't find any selfies taken during a biopsy or intimate details of what spurted from where. Nope. Nope. Nope.
2. From time-to-time this thread might actually be fun.
3. I am not religious but I am a stone-cold believer in God and I love Jesus, so if I ever talk along those lines and it offends anyone -- sorry in advance.
4. No worrying about what to post! It's sometimes tough to know what to say to someone in my situation, although the Newbs. Nest folks have done an amazing job so far. If you ever want to say something here, but don't know what to say, feel free to:
A. Post a funny pic
B: Quote anything by Monty Python
C: Just say "Hullo" or better yet, "Piss off"
5. Any encouraging words are ALWAYS appreciated!
So, thank you for stopping by the ring. To be continued soon…
I'm still kind of reeling from the new diagnosis and trying to learn the lingo. Trust me, words like "oncologist" and "invasive" are not words that you want in your vocabulary. But enough grousing. Let's start the thread on a more positive note with:
Things I Have Survived and Beaten During my Lifetime
- A 15-year, pack a day smoking addiction
- A devastating cocaine habit
- A husband who turned violent after we married
- 3 hurricanes
- 2 tornadoes
- Swept out to sea in a rip current
- Carried away in the car at night by a flash flood
- Run off the road by a truck @75 mph and slid sideways in the median for ~50 yards
- Robbed by a ski-masked man holding a gun to my temple
- 3 car wrecks (none my fault, one totaled)
- Broken leg, broken wrist, cracked head, 2 concussions (all on different occasions)
- Near-fatal childhood kidney condition & surgery
- Backward SUV slide down an icy mountain stopping only inches from a steep drop off
- Sudden loss of a parent to heart disease
- Layoff from a long-term job
- Total hip replacement surgery
- 2 divorces
- AL addiction (the whoop-ass is still in progress but at 2+ mos. it's lookin' good)
Now, there are many other things, and I'll write about the less-life-threatening ones for fun in a subsequent post. For now, suffice it to say that I'm somewhat resilient and therefore, I think my chances here are pretty decent. When I was a kid, my favorite toy was one of those "super balls." Remember them? They were sort of blue-black and made of an amazing sort of rubber that made them bounce much higher than they ought to. Perhaps, while playing, I absorbed some of their properties.
In the other corner, we have Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, 2.5 mm, Grade 3 (highly aggressive), triple positive (fast-replicating) just hanging out there in my left breast, just being an ugly nuisance, not unlike husband #2.
Ding. Ding. Ding... Round 1 begins next Friday with a lumpectomy and lymph node biopsy. Then we'll know if it spread, which has all sorts of ramifications that I'm not allowing myself to think about just before going to bed.
Before I close this post, leaving you all hanging, there are a few simple Rules to this Thread
1. I intend to be honest but not graphic. You won't find any selfies taken during a biopsy or intimate details of what spurted from where. Nope. Nope. Nope.
2. From time-to-time this thread might actually be fun.
3. I am not religious but I am a stone-cold believer in God and I love Jesus, so if I ever talk along those lines and it offends anyone -- sorry in advance.
4. No worrying about what to post! It's sometimes tough to know what to say to someone in my situation, although the Newbs. Nest folks have done an amazing job so far. If you ever want to say something here, but don't know what to say, feel free to:
A. Post a funny pic
B: Quote anything by Monty Python
C: Just say "Hullo" or better yet, "Piss off"
5. Any encouraging words are ALWAYS appreciated!
So, thank you for stopping by the ring. To be continued soon…
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