"Life's challenges are not made to paralyze you, they're there to help you discover who you are.”
About Me:
I'm a 28 year old mother of one and I was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in June 08' at age 27.
I have undergone seven months of chemotherapy, a lumpectomy and a double maestectomy and am now currently undergoing reconstruction, which will mean I need to have more surgery to complete the process. I am also currently on hormone therapy that will force me into menapause for the next 5 years ....yep menapause at age 28!
Through my journey I went through the stages of losing all of my hair and was terribly fatigued, not to mention neutropenic most of the time.Whilst I caught the tumour fairly early given my age the cancer is extrememly aggressive, so even after my lumpectomy and long bout of chemo, unfortunately the results of my double maestectomy confirmed that another 2 tumours were found, only this time within my blood vessle of my effected breast.
Whilst I am positive and excited about my future I cant help thinking how this could have all be prevented if I took my lump more seriously when I first discovered it. Being young I was naive thinking it was an older womens disease ...
If you think this sort of thing can't happen to you, think again.
One in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime*.
There has never been any history of cancer (of any kind) in our family.
It happened to me and it could happen to you.
Early detection is the key to survival, so please, ensure you do a regular self examination, and if in doubt, see your doctor.
For further information, please visit these links:* http://www.nbocc.org.au/events/campaigns.html
Yesterday my bone scan results came back as clear, this was a total relief as I had been having an aching pain for months in my hip area - turns out the aches are due to my bone density changing from being in forced menapause.
When the Dr told me it was clear, it was almost like I was reborn .. I felt so strong and full of life - now all I can think about is really want to do something ..really wanting to set myself a goal that I will push myself to reach. I want the goal to be health related, after all it was my health problems that were slowing me down in life.
I know my battle is far from over but for now I want to challenge myself to do something amazing, something incredible and inspiring. I have a few ideas up my sleeve but will take a day or so to really flesh out what it is I want - any suggestions are welcome!
My cancer journey has been hard, there have been times I have cried and cried for hours on end thinking why me .. then I stop... I take a deep breath and remind myself - I am still blessed. I still have my life, I am surrounded by an amazing partner, family and friends. I still have the world at my fingertips. I stop and I remind myself that just because I have cancer doesnt mean my life is over. I constantly think how other people have a far worse life than mine - i still have so much to be thankful and grateful for.
This journey is a real hidden blessing, it has taught me so much about life, love and peace.
I hope that through my blog I am able to raise awareness of early detection in breast cancer and also for those who may be reading this and you have some form of illness, I hope that I can inspire you to not give up on life just because the odds are against you. I hope to teach you many amazing lessons I have learnt along the way, lessons to enrich your life for a happier, healthier mind, body and soul.
x
awesome baby :-)
ReplyDeleteI am very proud of you
b xx