Believe you are here for a reason!

"Believe in something big. Your life is worth a noble motive." - Walter Anderson.

At this time, the results of my PET/CT scan did not reveal any detectable tumors elsewhere in my body (PET/CT can only detect early stage tumors, not individual cancer cells). So for the moment, this is a huge relief. Truth be told though, cancer has a way of stealing away ANY AND ALL sense of relief day after day as sunlight fades and darkness falls...for some reason, nighttime is very hard for me.

In addition, because I have Lymphatic Vascular Invasion, which brings with it a greater likeliness of cancer spreading through my blood stream, I will likely have to repeat the PET/CT scans in one year. In the meantime, I will pray that the chemotherapy will do it's job and kill any rogue cancer cells that may have circulated elsewhere in my body trying to grow into a tumor. Bad cancer! Bad cancer!

Unfortunately, the scans were NOT effective in the diagnosis of additional cancer cells or tumors in my breasts, therefor I am more certain than ever that a mastectomy is, without doubt, the right choice for me.

After my next surgery on January 12th, final pathology will help guide my oncologist regarding the most effective type and duration of chemotherapy required.

For now, I am looking forward to ringing in the new year quietly and gratefully with Steve and our children.

God bless, happy new year...and believe you are here for a reason...I do!


Lisa

Be Merry!

PET/CT Scan today....

I had my PET/CT scan today....it coincided with the 15 year anniversary of my daughter's birth. At 2 1/2 hours in length, the scans also lasted about the same amount of time I was in labor with her all those years ago. Ironic: Back then she was coming out of a dark place while today I was going in one. ;)

I will get the results next Tuesday.

Happy 15th Birthday to my baby girl!!

Stayin Alive....

If you have four minutes to watch this music video, I think you'll enjoy it. Believe it or not this was the 'gold standard' for music videos back in the day (I feel I'm old enough to use that term!)

I listen to this song every morning...it has become my mantra these days.

I loved the 'choreography' and I hope you do too.
Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3b9gOtQoq4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Slow and Steady Wins the Race....

Before receiving my breast cancer diagnosis about 2 months ago, I could never have imagined there would be such a long, slow, and rocky road ahead of me.

And while I am grateful for the painstaking attention to detail my doctors are taking with my case, it's the endless waiting (for biopsies, biopsy results, healing, doctors appointments, surgery, more healing, scans, needles, even more surgery, even more healing, oncologists appointments, chemotherapy, inevitable hair loss, likely exhaustion, etc, whine, etc, whine) that has proven to be the most difficult task of all.

My chemotherapy oncologist has ordered a PET and CT scan to see if the cancer has made its way elsewhere in my body. The scans will take place sometime over the next week or so. But of course, now every little twinge I feel from my head to my toes has me worried the cancer has spread! Is it possible to get hang-nail cancer??! Hopefully these scans will provide much needed and long overdue peace of mind for me and my family.

The scans will be followed by my mastectomy/reconstruction surgery, currently scheduled for January 12th, which at my request will allow me to enjoy Christmas and New Year's with my family.

Surgery will take about 6 hours to complete and will also include further lymph node extraction. After which I will stay 2-3 nights in the hospital and experience about one month of feeling like there's an elephant standing on my chest (talk about the elephant in the room!). Unfortunately, reconstruction will involve two to three more surgeries over a one year to eighteen month time period.

So as I said in the beginning of this post, slow and steady wins the race, or in biblical terms - 'the race is not to the swift' (Ecclesiastes 9.11).

As always, I thank God for my family and friends...I could not do this without you.

Love,

Lisa

Silver Lining #5

My Friends. Thank you to all my wonderfully loving and supportive friends. Each one of you has found just the right thing to say and/or do at just the right moment. God bless you, every one!

Silver Lining #4

My husband, my father, my brothers, my brothers-in-law, my sons, my uncles. Here's to the strong men in my life.

Steve read the article below regarding parsley and it's possible cancer fighting qualities....since then he's been putting chopped fresh parsley on everything I eat! I will not be surprised if he starts topping my desserts! As I said before, I'm the luckiest girl in the world!

PARSLEY:

May help: Inhibit breast cancer-cell growth.
University of Missouri scientists found that this herb can actually inhibit breast cancer-cell growth, reported Holly Pevzner in the September/October 2011 issue of EatingWell Magazine. In the study, animals that were given apigenin, a compound abundant in parsley (and in celery), boosted their resistance to developing cancerous tumors. Experts recommend adding a couple pinches of minced fresh parsley to your dishes daily.