Cancer treatment plans are very much tailored to each individual patient, so before I get to my personal plan (which follows the lumpectomy surgery I had in early December), I want to share some details about my cancer with you. First, let me introduce you to my tumour: invasive ductal carcinoma (80% of breast cancers […] Read more…
Recovery from my lumpectomy and lymph node removal has been really up and down, both physically and emotionally. I haven’t had any issues in terms of the breast surgery itself, but the area under my arm where the lymph nodes were removed has been a lot trickier, with numbness (I still can’t feel myself applying […] Read more…
On Monday I had surgery to remove the cancerous tumour in my breast and I’m sharing a recap of the day below. Sunday night I took a Lorazepam to help me sleep, and I was up at 6 a.m. the next morning to shower and head to the hospital. My husband dropped me at the […] Read more…
On November 24 when I received my date for surgery (coming up on Monday, December 7th) I was told to go home immediately and begin self-isolation! Well, I took a detour by the school so I could leave things set up for my replacement teacher, but since then I’ve been hanging out chez moi. (I […] Read more…
So strong. So brave. Wow, I kinda love that people see me this way. But let me be honest: it’s not always the case. And I sure don’t want other cancer patients or survivors to think that’s how they’re “supposed” to appear. I may be a royal-watcher but my upper lip is anything but stiff, […] Read more…
Before I start I have to share that I was so excited when leaving the hospital after finding out I only had one tumour that I barely registered walking right past an inmate (orange jumpsuit, handcuffs, leg shackles, flanked by a couple of correctional officers) on my way out. This memory popped into my brain […] Read more…
(And does anyone else get flashes of The Simpsons when they hear that song? Just me?) I have rewritten this post three times in the past two days because things keep changing, but we’re overdue for an update so I’m going to hit “publish” and get this out in the world. Last week’s MRI: Another […] Read more…
Admit it: you’d feel a teeny bit better about my diagnosis if you learned I was a chainsmoker. Or maybe a heavy drinker, or surprisingly obese compared to my profile photo, right? I wouldn’t blame you – it’s easier for us to process someone else’s challenge when we can tell ourselves it can’t happen to […] Read more…
In Part 1 of my breast cancer story I tackled a lot of factual information about my diagnosis: finding a lump (which wasn’t actually the cancerous tumour), my mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy, getting the news, telling the girls, and making plans for treatment. Because the question I get asked the most often is actually, “How […] Read more…
There’s no burying the lede here, since it’s right in the title: I’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer. While jokes were made that the week of the US presidential election felt like waiting for biopsy results, I was *actually* waiting for biopsy results – and America definitely got better news than I did. No matter […] Read more…