No, Thank You. I'm Not Thirsty.

This is me clowning around with my friend the mammographer-you can't see her in this pic, but I promise you she was there. There are things you want to get done when you have to have chemo. I got my teeth cleaned, had a pap smear and colored my hair all before chemo started because those are things you don't want to do during your 6 month stint. My onc said I could do the mammogram later with no worries so I waited a couple months.

I have a friend that worked in the breast center at the hospital where I was receiving my care so I decided to have her do it instead of where I usually go. I've been getting mammograms since the age of 32 because my sister was diagnosed with Stage I breast cancer at the age of 36. The type of mammogram I was to receive this time however was called a diagnostic mammogram, you see you get special treatment when you already have cancer.

Things went as expected. I couldn't much tell the difference. The only real difference was the fact that when my friend left to have the doctor look at my pictures she came back and said the doctor wanted to speak with me. As it turns out my pictures showed something unexpected.
Because the mammographer is my friend I was able to see the doctor that day, because the mammographer is my friend the doctor scheduled a biopsy for the following day and because I am your friend I am going to spare you the details of that biopsy.
I will say I absolutely hope you never have the pleasure.

Turns out you can have 2 primary cancers at the ripe old age of 47. And I did. Turns out I had what's called DCIS. AKA Stage 0 breast cancer. Turns out the type of DCIS I had was aggressive and with a family history and high tumor grade it was strongly suggested that I have a double mastectomy. Turns out I had that mastectomy in November after I competed chemotherapy for Stage 3 Colon Cancer. Turns out life can sometimes keep giving you lemons even when you've had your fill of fucking lemonade.

What a Pain in the Neck

It was June and we went for a walk. I'd been experiencing some pain in my neck. Just bothersome, but noticeable. Earlier in the day I had had a nose bleed. My nose bled a lot because of the chemo, but this one was hard to stop. Later that night I couldn't sleep. The pain had become unbearable. My husband woke up around 1:00AM and noticed me missing. When he came out of the bedroom he asked if I was ever going to go to bed. "I can't sleep" I said. The pain was too much. It had been gradually increasing to the point where now I was unable to move my neck much. He insisted on calling the doctor. I told him I thought I probably had a blood clot. I'd been googling my symptoms and that's what it appeared to be. Once the doctor learned I had a significant bloody nose earlier in the day she insisted we get to the emergency room and about 7 1/2 hours later I was finally getting an ultrasound which confirmed I did indeed  have a blood clot. In my jugular. A result of my port. I was then prescribed Lovenox injections, which once brave enough, I injected myself , 2 times a day. I did these shots for 5 months. Sometimes I cried. But usually I went about what ever business was ahead of me. I've given myself shots in hotel conference rooms, at a dinner table in a crowded restaurant, in a car, on a plane, in a bar, you name it. What once seemed impossible, to point a sharp needle at my abdomen, push it through my skin and inject myself became old hat. Like everything else when dealing with cancer. You do what you have to do.