One year down, many more to go!

Exactly one year ago today (2/7/06) my fears came true, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. I lost one year to cancer, and I vow to make it no more! I am very lucky to have come this far, against many odds and bad stats. Aggressive chemo, radiation and lots of drugs for the next five years should hopefully beat this beast into submission!

Ever hear of the Nottingham Prognostic Index? Well my score for it is 5.84, but I am not going to let it bother me. All the treatments I've had have changed it for the better, and things are good now. The true test is to make it through the next year with no problems, then the next milestone is five years, then ten...I just have to knock each year down, one by one :)

I love my life, and I'm going to get back to being busy living it! I'm still waiting for the final okay on insurance, and then I'll be scheduling plane rides and hotel stays for New Orleans! It's funny, originally I wanted to have long hair when I get married, but now my wish is to have two breasts! Being uni-boobed is not as fun as it sounds. Prosthetics are great disguises, but you always have to wear them. It's annoying to exercise with them, as they tend to migrate in a sports bra--not fun adjusting that in the gym, let me tell you. Also wearing bathing suits is tricky business, I have to find the right style to make it less obvious that there is uneven-ness going on. But this summer is going to rock--yay for getting a new boob! I cannot wait to be able to wear just a regular bra and not one of the lovely medical ones for prosthetics (can we say ugly?). Plus, it will be nice just to feel whole again :)

Also, my hair is growing back pretty well! I love having hair again, and now it's long enough that it doesn't look like I've been sick either (ie. doesn't look like I'm growing new hair). The hair on my head has come back thicker and is brown! So if you see me, you might not recognize me! I'm also sporting new eyelashes and eyebrows! Unfortunately my eyelashes are no where near as long as they used to be, and probably will never be where they used to be (after talking to many ladies who've been in the same position as me). My eyebrows also grew back dark, but now they're slowly lightening and I've even got some blond hairs growing in them now. Plus, it's nice when I work out to not have to wear a bandanna at the gym, and the sweat doesn't run into my eyes anymore. Ahh, the little things in life :)

Recently I got another Zoladex shot and I'm hoping it works this time! This was the once a month dose (3.6mg I think?) and I'm praying my labs show the correct values a month from now. I'm supposed to be in menopause, but we shall see if that happens this time around. I know it worked for a time, with lovely hotflashes and joint pain that made it hard to sleep. But then they suddenly went away and now I feel fine. So I'm not sure if my Tamoxifen is working or not. I called the onc to see if I could get a genetic test to see if I am a 'good' metabolizer of Tamoxifen. Hopefully they'll get back with me later today.

Lastly, I just want to thank everyone for their support and well wishes. This past year has been crazy, but all of your thoughts and prayers have really helped me come through! Someday I'll be able to 'pay it forward' to my future patients.

Speaking of pay...did a little book work and I have been pretty high maintenance this past year:

Chemotherapy: $80,092.61
Drugs: $63,600
Mastectomy: $9,613.63
Port Surgery: $4,627.92
Radiation: $37,815
PET Scan: $4,000
Genetic Testing: $3,000
Estimated Reconstruction: $84,000

And these costs do NOT include labs, prescription drugs, and cost of doctor's appointments...

THANK GOODNESS for insurance!