Survive Cancer

I was diagonsed with stage 3 ++ cervical cancer 3 days after my birthday on March 3, 2009. The Dr.’s wanted me to go in on my birthday but, I knew that I wasn’t going to get good news some how. One week later they put me in for an emergancy surgery before my midterms. Now I am in jeopardy of losing my funding for college and if that happens I will not be able to continue. Just to make things more complicated I have been in and out of a walking cast for two years. It’s hard because I am a musician and I am currently learning opera at CSUN to become a performer. I have had one surgery already and now they are saying they have a treatment for me. I have waited a month for the appoinment I was suppose to have today and my Dr. cancelled. Needless to say I broke down. Next week I have another appoinment for my left foot and I have my bipopsy results next friday to see if they have slowed down or hopefully caught the cancer.

It is scary but, I have hope that something good will come from all of this. To think that for a while all I wanted to do was be able to walk again and be able to work out. I think they are still very part of my desires but, I can’t do any of those things if I don’t survive this.

I love music and I can still play and sing. But, I cannot perform and that has caused me to lose even more motivation. I am very sad but, I still have hope that something good will come from all of this.

I want to beat this thing, for as long as I can.
There is too much to live for, to leave people behind.

A brief history of my cancer. On Feb 14th I was told that I has cancer at the base of my tongue and a secondary site at my lymph node which was 2.3 cm by 2.5cm in size.

From here I underwent a complete radiation treatment, and 2 out of 6 of my chemo treatments.

The radiation trashed my throat and I was unable to eat any food by mouth. I had to get a feeding tube and use that to get all my nutrition.

After the radiation was complete on May 15th, I started the recovery period. For 2 months I didn’t make too much progress toward healing, but I guess there were small steps being made. About the 2 month point, I went in for a PET SCAN. I was told then, that there could be some false positives on the scan.

Anyway, when I went in for the reading, they told me that there was no spread of cancer according to the scan and that the primary site was not showing as having any cancer… however, the secondary site was showing a 1.5 cm mass still present and they recommended a resection of the neck which would take out all the lymph nodes on the right side. The other offering was to wait 2 months and have another PET SCAN.

I made the decision… to go in for the surgery. I didn’t want to take any chances that there could still be cancer in there. So, I had the 5 hour surgery and today, they took the staples out (53 of them) and it hurts a lot.

But the pathology report was that there was no cancer found… the mass that they took out was radiation damage in the tissue. So… I am Cancer Free. I am a survivor. I have to see my doctor once a month for the next 2 years to make sure that it doesn’t come back. I will have PET SCANS and other tests, probably… but, right now, this moment… I am CANCER FREE and I am feeling great about that.

Now, the road to healing and recovery is my path…

All is right in my world.

I was recently admitted to the hospital for appendicitis. When the doctors were doing blood work they saw some unusual cell counts. After a few follow up visits I was diagnosed with AML (acute myelogenous leukemia). It was the most horrible news I have ever received. I am suppose to be starting chemotherapy in the next month. (If anyone that happens to read this has had chemotherapy please help me out on how to get through this, PLEASE.)

So far, so good. Non-hodgkin’s lymphoma, diagnosed September 29, 2006, 6 months later there was no sign that it was ever even there. I’ve been in remission since then. I go for another blood draw in a few days, I hope I’m not jinxing myself by writing this down.

I know that it is still early in my treatment.. I have had 2 chemotherapy sessions and those are the easiest for me right now. I will have completed 2 weeks of radiation tomorrow (I started on a Thursday with my first treatment and so out of 35 treatments I will be 10 done and 25 to go).

The Radiation is already starting to tear up my mouth. My taste is not gone, yet… but it taste like I’m sucking on a salt lick. My mouth is burning most of the time and my throat is getting a little sore.

The Chemotherapy that they have me following is not really chemical… it is more a biological. I’m taking Erbitux, which is a mono-clonal antibody that they harvest from mice. The #1 side effect is if you are allergic to it. The pre-meds that they give me feel worst than the actual medication. What it does is stops the cell from reproducing… it will affect all fact growing cells. So, of course it will affect my skin, digestive track (gi track) and nails and hair. They are suppose to start this therapy a week before radiation, but that didn’t happen… no problem.

So far… so good. I’ll write again later to let you all know how its going.

Blessings,

Shadowchilde

Yes… I have Cancer. I discovered that I have it and it was confirmed last week. This coming Wednesday I am going to the Cancer Center and discuss the treatments and schedule.

It certainly is a wake up call to realize that this is real and not something that everyone else gets. It is affecting me and I need to learn as much as I can and so whatever it takes to make sure that I survive.

it sure is scary though. I’m lucky enough to have a loving husband, daughter, in-laws and friends that are all my support group. I know that I can beat this.

Blessings,

Shadowchilde

In Nov 2005 I had an inch-long invasive tumor removed from my tongue, along with that side of my tongue from the tip to just about my back teeth. I am an answering service operator! I had to keep talking! 92% CURE rate at 5 years if lymph nodes and salivary glands are free of cancer on biopsy, and mine were. I have never smoked a cigarette or chewed tobacco in my life. I drink less than two alcoholic beverages a month. No one knows what risk factor could have triggered this. My cancer surgery was the first surgery I have ever had in my 46 year old life. It really is just luck. I know how much worse it could have been, or how easily it could all start again. They only need to have missed one cancerous cell. I try to live more in the moment. The woman in the hospital room with me had oral cancer migrate into the bones of her face and was missing quite a lot of her facial structure. It was all terrifying but strangely it was more frightening for my family than for me. It seemed very clear what was expected of me, but they were less sure and more upset.

I was diagnosed with stage 3b Hodgkins Lymphona on November 22, 2002. I was 19 years old. I would not wish this sickness on my worst enemy. The treatments are worse than the actual cancer. I went through months of intense chemotherapy treatments. I lost my hair and was nauseous every day and tired every moment. And on top of all that, I was going to school and working full time. I know that that helped keep my mind off of things. I wasn’t living and breathing “CANCER” every moment of the day. I tried to live as normal a life as possible, but with a few more visits to the doctor.

On September 11, 2003 I beat cancer, and have been in remission eversince. I am extremely blessed to be healthy today, although I have had some negative side affects like weight gain. When I was diagnosed I weighed 88 lbs. I’m only 4’10” so I looked fine, but the doctors decided that I needed to put on some weight in order to handle the treatments better, so they popped me with steroids every week. I ended up gaining 75 lbs. but I guess I had no choice. But the biggest side effect was going through early menopause. I am currently 24 years old and may never be able to have a child. I went through menopause at 21 and have not have my menstruation for almost 3 years. I will try everything that I can in order to make that dream come true, but I know that everything happens for a reason, and that God will never hinder me with more than I can handle!

I have been in remission from Non Hodgkins Lymphoma (t-cell) for one year. Life has never looked better!