RA and release from cancer memories
Living through cancer treatment is tough. Eventually the memories settle into a quiet place in your memory palace and life goes on.
All posts tagged: cancer attitude
Saying goodby is hard to do
I came across my memory of Susan. A story of many women. I wish it wasn’t so.
Archie and Me
My best childhood friend was Archie.
Mrs. Hughes, breast cancer and me
Mrs. Hughes of Downton Abbey had a lump in her breast. A diagnosis in 1920 had very different meaning than it does today.
The trauma of cancer treatment
I have had treatment for three different cancers. The third was the worst.
When you have had enough treatment
I have had three entirely different cancers and three different radiation treatments all within four and a half years. I had to count that twice on my fingers to actually believe it. My first set of radiation treatments was for breast cancer. It was this set of treatments that came back to haunt me this winter. But that is not my focus now. My treatments were at Kaseman’s MD Anderson. I went every day for three weeks at double dose instead of the usual six weeks. I had been reassured that the results were the same. I had to drive across town. It was like a field trip. I knew that once I got there, I could have a good cup of coffee. They had a Keurig coffee machine. It was a carrot for me, and it worked. I would sign in. Change into a gown. Lock up my wallet. Then I would sit with other patients to wait my turn. This is the part that sticks with me. It was in this room that …
Cancer and more surgery
My surgery will be coming up soon. When I learned I would need it, I felt depressed. I had been going to the wound clinic once a week and I was irrigating and packing the wound twice a day for several weeks now. I thought these measures were working. They weren’t. I remember the doctor saying if I needed surgery that there would be little left. Another dip into depression. So, I continue the care and await the upcoming surgery. I had breast cancer in October 2013. I had surgery and then a series of radiation treatments in 2014. The radiated tissue has become necrotic. A common occurrence that I didn’t know about. The dead tissue needs to be removed. This surgery is considered a ‘day surgery’. I will go home the same day of the surgery. My son becomes the nurse. The cost of a nurse or nurses is eliminated when patients are sent home the same day of surgery. It is a big improvement on their profit. I am fine. My body is …
Stage three thyroid cancer
My thyroid cancer was found quite by accident. I was having lung symptoms so my rheumatologist thought that I might be having problems with the methotrexate. She ordered a chest CT scan. It turned out that I wasn’t having lung problems I was having a different problem. I had a mass growing on my thyroid. This was my first cancer and I was in total denial that I might possibly have cancer. My patient doctor explained that the next step was a biopsy. I put the procedure off as long as I could. I was a working woman and I needed to work. Finally, the day arrived. In the x-ray department I was given a local anesthetic. Guided by ultrasound and a long needle, my doctor captured a number of samples from my thyroid. When the results came back, it was definitely cancer. It turned out to be stage three papillary carcinoma. It is not an overly aggressive cancer and it is slow growing. Lucky me. My thyroid labs had always been normal. There was …
Cancer Complications Never go away
Cancer Journal update November 5, 2019 I had forsaken this website as I felt my cancer was in the past. I now understand that cancer is never really in the past. This month is the six year anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis. It is also the one year anniversary for vaginal radiation of my uterine cancer. I spent most of last year being treated for uterine papillary serous carcinoma. It is a rare, aggressive cancer similar to ovarian cancer in behavior. It is caused by the breast cancer drug, Tamoxifen. I have spent most of the year recovering from major robotic surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. I am stronger. My mind is back to its former self. I am so happy and relieved. Now I have an open wound over my breast cancer scar tissue. My new breast cancer surgeon says that after being exposed to radiation, breast fat (what we feel as our breast) becomes necrotic and that damaged tissue breaks the skin looking for an out. I now have a half inch lesion. …
Uterine papillary serous cancer 2018
I became suspicious that there was more to my D&C and biopsy than I was expecting. My GYN Doc called me in to her office a week early to discuss my biopsy results. It was also her day for surgery. She came up from the OR suite just to talk to me. Bad signs. I like her. She is a petite woman of Asian heritage. Friendly. Personable. Professional. She quickly arrived carrying pictures she had taken during the D&C and a copy of the pathology report. She handed it to me. I read serous cancer. Reconfirmed. No doubt about it. She said she wasn’t familiar with this type of cancer, but I suspect she was playing the discussion forward to the next doctor. I have an appointment with an experienced GYN oncology surgeon on Monday. Uterine papillary serous cancer, UPSC for short, is also called uterine serous cancer and uterine serous adenocarcinoma. Docs and Google will understand if you just say serous cancer. It is a rare subset of endometrial cancer. It is relentlessly aggressive …
Cancer Girl New Mexico 