A second cancer, really?

To blog or not to blog, that is the question. And that question has been on my mind for weeks when I’ve been feeling so lousy I wished I had breast cancer again, not the new intruder, endometrial cancer. When I blogged about my triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) it was to keep my sanity, make a record of the experience for me and the kids, keep family and friends up to date, and especially to offer support and information to other women who had the triple negative diagnosis. TNBC only had depressing stats and lots of scary “it’s so aggressive if you make it past the three-year mark, consider yourself lucky” type messaging online.

So I did survive TNBC, with a parting gift of lymphedema of the right arm, hand and sometimes trunk, which was a small price to pay. Then early December 2020, Aunt Flo made a visit, a super surprise visit since she hadn’t been around since 2014, when cancer treatment scared her right out of my life.

I knew something was very, very wrong, and went through a hideous Christmas season waiting on ultrasounds and biopsies and results, smack in the middle of COVID-19. The pandemic had such an impact of my three kids who each had health anxiety before COVID that I couldn’t breathe a word of my tests, referrals, diagnosis or further testing until I had a date for my surgery. I had my hands full managing my own anxiety, and couldn’t have managed theirs as well.

So, I told the three of them February 3 that I had this cancer, it couldn’t be staged until after the surgery, and said surgery was in nine days, Feb. 12. I spent Valentine’s Day in hospital, no visitors. The keyhole surgical approach was a washout, and I had the full laparotomy procedure, 41 surgical staples, starting two inches above the bellybutton, then all the way down. My biggest complaint was pain management, which I achieved at the hospital and was then sent home on one-quarter of the dose I was taking in hospital. INSANE.

After six weeks of healing, radiation and chemo began, on the same day. Radiation and chemotherapy began on the same day: I repeat myself just in case that seems surprising. Radiation to this area of the body has side effects that have flattened me physically, emotionally and mentally. Imagine thinking about the bathroom and your proximity to it 24 hours a day. Hideous. And nothing I’m going to discuss here. If you’re visiting this blog because you’re going through this treatment, just leave me a note/comment here, or e-mail me at jacquelynwv@yahoo.com and we can really talk. I’m following a number of endometrial cancer blogs myself, so we can share and commiserate.

Since I have been lower than a snake’s belly for weeks on weeks, hidden out and been incommunicado with very kind and caring family and friends, I am going to blog my way out. Leave a comment or like if you want to, or text or call me when and if the spirit moves you.

I’ll play catch-up as I go along. Here is a glance at my appointments from today this month:

• Friday May 7, 8:30 a.m. (Princess Margaret, brachytherapy) (last radiation, yay!!)

• Monday May 10, 11:30 a.m. (brachytherapy follow-up education)

• Monday May 10, 12:45 p.m. (Mount Sinai, 2-hour gyne-urology referral)

• Wednesday May 12, 11:55 a.m. (PMCC, blood draw)

• Thursday May 13, 10 a.m. (Cancer Rehab and Survivorship Clinic)

• Wednesday May 19, 10:30 a.m. (Toronto Western, for port placement)

• Thursday May 20, 12:55 p.m. (PMCC, blood draw)

• Thursday May 20, 2:15 p.m. (PMCC, see oncologist in clinic)

• Thursday May 27 8:45 a.m. (PMCC, 5–6 hours chemotherapy).

Onward and upward!

Eight-year survivor of triple negative breast cancer!

When I got my diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in 2013, my doctors told me to stay off the internet because the information on there was dismal. So of course I went there for a while and yes, it was dismal. So, now that I’m eight years down the recovery road with TNBC, I thought it’s about time to pop back in here and say it’s still in remission. Yay!!!

I survived lousy interwebs survival rates for triple negative breast cancer, dose-dense chemotherapy (two weeks apart rather than the usual three weeks apart), tons of side effects, went bald, had breast-conserving bilateral mastectomy, big path report, 25 rounds of radiation, lymphedema of the arm, hand and sometimes, trunk, fatigue, more reconstructive surgery, yadda, yadda, yadda, back to work, super interesting work I might add, my daughter had twin boys, big life stuff, and I am happy to be here!

So if you’ve come to my blog as a TNBC patient/survivor/info seeker, please read on down, or go the the Pages section to the left on this page, and go to the bottom underlined heading, Start here, to see where you really want to start reading.