My Thoughts - My Journey

My prayers are with each of you who are on a cancer journey, not only today, but everyday I lift you before our Heavenly Father. My prayers are also poured-out for your family members as they walk so closely with you in this journey. I know very personally much of what goes along with having cancer....and having cancer is just part of it. It can completely turn your life upside-down as it touches on every aspect of your daily life. Once diagnosed....the journey begins and for some, if not most, it is a continuous journey that will follow us through the rest of our life. Every card, phone call, text, Facebook message....and especially every prayer matters to someone who is fighting their battle to live. It means so much! It is so easy for one with cancer to get in a bubble and somewhat withdraw from life. Life becomes overwhelmed with chemo treatments, surgeries, radiation, pain, sadness, loading up on medications.....the light and joy of life can start to fade. Yes, even those of...

Chemo treatment #8 went well today. However, I have been experiencing pain in both shoulders since my double mastectomy, but my right shoulder is the worst.  being pinned down every day during my chemo treatments, having my arm strap down, is really aggravating my shoulder and making the pain much worse.  After my radiation treatment today, I had a consultation with my Medical Oncologist, Dr. Bondly. I had blood work drawn through my port and my numbers were really good. I also weighed and had lost 6 pounds. In addition, my breathing was good. YAY!  Dr. Bondly is setting me up with a specialist to check-out my shoulder pain. She also called in a prescription for my shoulder pain...Hydrocodone-Acetaminophen 10 325MG. Dr. Bondly is concerned about it and wants to find out the cause.  Maybe the pain pills will also help with the radiation burn that I am starting to experience.  We discussed the Xeloda chemo pill. She is placing an order fo...

Below is a post written by my daughter, Ashleigh Kiker, and shared on the GoFundMe account that she has set-up for me today. "My mom was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer on September 10, 2018. Since she was diagnosed, she has been through 8 rounds of chemo, a double mastectomy, and is currently in 30 days of radiation. All of this treatment will be followed by 6 months of daily chemo medication and a lifetime hormone suppressor.  As you can imagine, the medical bills are beginning to mount up. We are incredibly thankful for her Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance policy; but, they only cover 80% of the costs related to treatment.  To date, she has received over $300,000 in medical bills of which she is responsible for 20% of that amount. Patricia had to let go of her primary income source in December due to treatment complications."  "As a result of those complications, she was put on oxygen and continues to experience periods of tiredness and reduced energy....

Yesterday, after my 5th treatment, I had a consult with my Radiation Oncologist, the dietitian, the Nurse Practitioner, and my nurse. They wanted to know how I was doing and wanted to make sure that I was using my prescription lotions every day and night. I asked Dr. Salter about the concern I had with negative side-effects that can come from radiation treatments...hardening of the arteries, heart valve issues, sudden heart attack, pneumonitis in the lungs and other lung issues.  I suffered pneumonitis from the chemo Taxotere and it was horrific! I am still on oxygen at night because of it, but hope to come off of it next month. She told me that because of my rare cancer and rare method of treatment....having to treat both sides of chest - underarms - and neck all at one time....the special arching of the treatment pattern will help to reduce risks. Dr. Salter also said that when they were mapping out my treatment plan all of those risks were taken into consideration and they...

I have been on "stand-by" as I have been waiting to get the "go" to begin radiation. I went and had my mapping/markings done for radiation two weeks ago. I was told that I would be called that Friday or the following Monday to notify me as to when I would start radiation that week. I did not receive a call until the following Wednesday. I thought that Jessie was calling to give me a start date....thinking that I would be able to begin the next day, Thursday. But....No! That was not her purpose for calling. She was just checking on my markings to see if I needed to come in and have them re-marked. I told her that I had been very careful when taking showers and that; although I had some fading, where the tape pieces had been placed over the marks....they were still in good shape. I asked Jessie about the delay in beginning my radiation. I had already had a one week delay because of my hematoma....along with two weeks delay for me to heal from my surgery. She informed ...

Today is Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem....Matthew 21:1–9, when palm branches were placed in His path, before His arrest on Holy Thursday and His crucifixion on Good Friday. Again at the end of the Bible, people from every nation raise palm branches to honor Jesus....Revelation 7:9. Christ’s body was given for you and me; His blood poured out for you and for me. Reflect on Jesus and His greatest gift....offering up His life so that we can live in freedom and with Him throughout eternity. Amen! “You will show me the way of life granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” Psalm 16:11 The story of the cross and what leads up to Jesus’ death means nothing to those who are not believers. Jesus coming forth from the tomb with His scars still very much present on His body sounds like a fairy-tale to unbelievers. However, to us who are His disciples…to those of us who do believe, it rips our hearts ...

On April 3rd, I went to Radiation Oncology in the Bruno Cancer Center to have my radiation mapping done for my post-mastectomy radiation therapy. Even after removal of the entire breast or breasts, it does not eliminate the risk of recurrence in the remaining tissues of the chest wall or lymph nodes. In most cases the risk of recurrence is high enough that radiation is recommended after a mastectomy.  I have been preparing for this day by doing many various arm exercises. After surgery, you start out by raising your arms only to the level of having them parallel with the floor. Then, you gradually start to raise them higher and work also on getting more motion and movement. Under each arm, where the lymph nodes were removed and the drains came out, it felt like I was going to rip something each time I tried to stretch. It felt like tight rubber bands were going to pop as I would attempt to stretch my arms higher.  I learned that what I was experiencing is...