ONE YEAR LATER

It’s that time of year again, when everything is pink to make everyone AWARE of breast cancer. October 1 marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I think, at this point, most people are aware of breast cancer. I’d even go as far to say that most people probably know someone who has had breast cancer. What I don’t think, however, is that people think it could happen to them. It’s me. I’m people. It never even crossed my mind that I would one day be one of the ONE IN EIGHT women who would develop breast cancer. 

It has been a year since I closed my eyes, held my breath and hit “publish” on this blog letting my world know about my diagnosis and treatment. At that time, I had already completed five rounds of chemotherapy and had a lumpectomy. In January, I had twenty rounds of radiation to finish out my official treatment. Since that time, I have seen my treatment team at least 100 times because they are obsessed with me. Kidding (about the obsessed part). These days, I’m on a shot I take every three months to suppress my hormones and send me into artificial menopause. Fun! I also take daily meds to suppress hormones because the kind of cancer I had feeds on hormones, so we’re cutting off that food source. Yay, science!

I kind of thought after all of that treatment, I would know exactly when milestone anniversaries would pass, but I didn’t. I honestly had to look back through texts and calendar appointments even to put them in this post.

April 23, 2024 - First Chemo

August 13, 2024 - Last Chemo

September 25, 2024- Lumpectomy

January 6, 2025 - First Radiation

February 3, 2025 - Last Radiation

I’ve already passed the first three major milestone anniversaries and I didn’t think a thing about it. It feels like a lifetime ago, honestly. It was such a surreal time. Now, the only evidence remaining of that time is a few scars on my (much smaller) breasts, and a wild patch of hair growing in on the top of my head. I’ve lost the dreaded steroid moon face, and I’ve been able to get back to exercise after a little break post-surgery. I am still surprised every time I look down at my smaller chest, but I am thrilled at the silver lining there - hello button down shirts!

I have had two (3?) mammograms and one MRI since my treatment ended and will continue to have mammograms and MRIs every six months for a few years. I am fine with that, because early detection saved my life. That brings me to the reason for this post. As anyone who read the previous posts from last year knows, I do not love the idea of everyone knowing I was sick. I don’t even like typing the word “sick,” because it’s not really how I felt. It’s complicated. I knew there was something there that was trying to grow and kill me. I felt lousy after treatment for a couple of days. I felt nervous and anxious some of the time. I felt all of those things, but I did not feel sick. It feels like nothing, which is why it’s so incredibly important for women to do their self-examinations, keep up with annual OBGYN appointments and mammograms, and absolutely DO NOT IGNORE things in your body. It’s better to know.

Love you guys. Give your tits a squeeze for me.

xoxo