My Thoughts - My Journey

Monday, May 20th, was a harrowing day! Some of the most difficult things to deal with when having cancer or any life-threatening disease is the cost.....and how am I going to be able to afford this! If you receive medications, treatments, hospital stays, doctor visits, tests upon tests....and so on....they expect to be paid. And that often comes with...especially medications...you pay when you pick it up at the pharmacy OR you don't get it. It is part of your life-saving protocol; however, they can't factor pity or sympathy into the mix when the Pharmacist and Techs are merely representing corporate regulations.  On Mondays, I have my radiation and then I meet with the Radiation Oncologist and her team for a consultation. Yesterday was scheduled at my normal 1:45 pm time. Early Monday morning I received a call from the Alabama RX which is upstairs in the Bruno Cancer Center. I talked about them in my last blog post. I figured that it was their reminder call th...

I have not had much, treatment wise, to write about lately. I am doing so well considering all I have gone through in the past 8 months. It has been a whirlwind....non-stop from mammograms, sonograms, multiple biopsies, surgery, to treatment, to another surgery, to treatment.....to kick this cancer out of my body. There have been multiple CT Scans and PET Scans, 2 EKG's, 2 ECG's,  MANY blood tests, Chemo treatments (4 months), 2 surgeries: Port Surgery and Bilateral Mastectomy, Radiation (every day for 29 days)....and on and on.  After radiation, I will begin the Xeloda Chemo pill for 6 months. I had debated whether or not to take it, but I have had my Medical Oncologist and my Radiation Oncologist both tell me that I should take it. It gives me an additional 5% chance of my cancer not returning. That doesn't sound like a lot....plus when you factor in all of the negative side-effects that can attack your body. However, as Dr. Salter, my Radiation On...

Thought I would share my "rambling" Mother's Day devotional. I pray that, in some small way, it will be a blessing to you. When God speaks, we don’t have to figure it all out. When we say “Yes!” to God, it opens the door for His best in our lives. Mary was but a very young teen when she had the angel encounter. She learned that she was favored by God and would conceive a child, although still a virgin. She asked, “how can this be,” and the angel explained. She could have said NO! But her response was, “ I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me.” (Luke 1:38) There is NO WAY that she could have fully understood or wrapped her mind around what she had been told and the path her life would take from there. There are many women of faith in the Scriptures who we can glean from. Women who will encourage us toward making the right choices….to giving God the right answer. They were real women with real-life circumstances. Ruth is an example f...

I have had several radiation treatments since I last updated about them. Today is May 2nd and tomorrow will be radiation treatment #14. The time is passing by very quickly; however, it almost ties-up my whole day. By the time I get up, lotion everywhere that receives radiation, drink a cup of coffee, fix my breakfast/lunch and eat, shower, get dressed....it is time to leave. My appointment is at 1:45 pm daily and with the traffic, it takes about 45 minutes to drive to downtown Birmingham from Moody. My appointment can last anywhere from 40 minutes to a couple of hours...depending on how backed-up they are. Every Monday, I have a consultation with the Radiation Oncologist, Nurse, Dietitian, and Nurse Practitioner. Therefore, Monday appointments always run longer. By the time I get back to Moody, it is 3:30 pm or later.  Radiation can change the texture of your skin. I have several skin folds from my Bilateral Mastectomy. It is causing some deep creasing. My arms are c...