The Miracles of Modern Medicine

Before breast cancer my medical history was largely uneventful.  When I was a little girl I remember racing with my cousins and brother down a gravel hill at the Rivah and falling, scraping my knee up pretty badly.  I was left with a scar that looked like a huge bird had landed on my knee.  Until I had my C-sections that was my only notable scar.

Recently, I was sharing with a dear friend how self conscious I am about all of my new scars (and the ones that are yet to come).  I love what they said - scars are just tattoos with a story.  I truly have a story to tell now, and I am so thankful to be here to share it.

It is my hope that by sharing this blog I am doing my best to inform, inspire hope, and educate about breast cancer.

In the past few weeks I have had a couple set backs.  

The first was a sudden, and severe outbreak of hives.  They covered me in both large and small painful, itchy welts from my scalp all the way to my hips.  The problem with an allergic reaction of that kind is that there is no real way of figuring out where they came from, just an urgency to get them under control.  The initial hypothesis was that I was allergic to one of the medications I was given during or after surgery.  When the hives came back for the third time in three weeks the hypothesis was changed. The doctors now believe that I either have a latex allergy, or that I was allergic to the adhesive used during surgery.  I am so thankful that for now steroids are keeping the hives at bay (and making me feel a little like Wonder Woman).  I am hopeful that when I am finished with this (the third) dose of steroids that whatever I am allergic to will be gone, and that this is a problem that can be avoided in the future.

The second setback has been so hard for me to deal with and process, I think mainly because at the heart of all of this I am still a girly girl- some may even say that I am a bit of a princess.  

My abdominal incision from the DIEP Flap surgery began coming open last week.  What started as a few small openings, quickly became a much larger, deep wound.  I truly look and feel like a cast member from the Walking Dead.  I have been in constant contact with both of my surgeons, and was presented with a few options for wound care. Yesterday I had the wound debrided and this morning I had a small procedure done that will hopefully expedite the healing process, and get me back to being me sooner. I am still looking at several weeks for the wound to heal, but I am excited about the science behind the healing process and looking forward to wonderful results.  Once this wound is healed I will be able to move on to my next surgery.

These last few months have been the most difficult of my life.  I am thankful every day that it is I who am wrestling this monster, and not one of my loved ones.  Through my cancer journey I have met some truly amazing people, I am so thankful to have them in my life.  I have followed other's stories, I have wept with them in both their victories and setbacks.  "Every day is a bonus," is the mantra of the wonderful people at CJSTUF, I want you all to believe that and live it.  I have also been following Holley Kitchen since my diagnosis, she recently died from breast cancer.  Her motto was to "live the dash," that little line that separates the day you were born from the day that you die. Make every day count.

Friends, be thankful for every day.  Enjoy the little things.  Tell the people you love that you love them, spread peace and positivity into the world.  Be kind in all things that you do.  Continue to share the wisdom of early detection, it saved my life.

#fightlikeamommy