SUE'S ESCAPE FROM CANCERLAND: Finally spring!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Finally spring!

Finally no frost on the car! And warm enough to take the kids on walks. Tessa, Shanna and I walked over to Naomi's right before Maya had to catch her school bus. Apple and cherry blossoms are out. Even my tulips, the ones not nibbled on by the rabbits (they bite off the blossoms).

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About me

I am a mother of 3, wife of 1, and grandmother of 6. For years, I had been a medicinal chemist. Not long after I was retired early, I found myself with triple negative breast cancer. My struggles with it are in this blog along with the joys and trials of being a mother and grandmother. I love to be physically active, travel, read, and garden. Although my degrees are in chemistry and cellular biology not medicine, I keep up with the medical literature and report herein watching closely for good news against this deadly disease. As time goes on, my stay in Cancerland has become more a bad memory than a reality. This blog has since morphed into a photo blog in which I try to capture moments of beauty in my life.

TIMELINE

9-10-08: 1.6 cm tumor discovered by routine mammogram confirmed by ultrasound

9-21-08: Biopsy confirming Grade 3, triple negative invasive breast cancer

10-7-08: First surgery and sentinel node biopsy.

10-9-08: Tumor had grown to 3 cm plus an additional tumor was found. Poor margins but the 3 sentinel nodes were negative

10-16-08: Follow-up mammograms: lots of microcalcifications that could be DCIS

10-29-08: Second surgery removing 3x the tissue as the first: Good news: no sign of cancer in any of it.

12-2-08: First dose dense treatment with Adriamycin and Cytoxan followed by Neulasta the next day

12-16-08: Second dose

12-19-08: Hair began falling out. In 2 days I would be completely bald.

12-30-08: Third dose

1-13-09: Fourth dose

1-27-09: First of 4 doses of Taxol

3-10-09: Last dose of Taxol

3-31-09: First of 16 radiation treatments (so-called hypofractionated Canadian study)

4-21-09: Last radiation treatment

Early May: All eyelashes and eyebrows suddenly fall out but see evidence of stubble on head

Mid July: Have an inch of curly salt-pepper hair vs straight blondish-white of before. Officially retire the wig.

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Finally spring!

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