So with my one year cancerversary being tomorrow, I'm planning on being too intoxicated for a few days to update. I know, I know, I shouldn't drink. Blah blah blahhh. :)
Since I haven't said much on here about my cancer, I figured this would be a good post to explain everything. Here goes nothing!
In Summer 2008, my husband and I went on a little trip for my birthday. We went to a waterpark & zoo! I was very pale and decided I wanted a tan...so I didn't wear Sunscreen. Not a drop. We stayed for 7 hours on a July day, 102 degrees outside. Fast forward to 6 months later. I have always had a mole right next to my left knee cap and this was what I noticed first. It was larger than usual and started to scab. Eh, still didn't seem alarmed. I let the weird, crusty mole go until July 2009, A YEAR LATER, and I did not want to believe it was anything.
Somewhere in July 2009, I pulled up some sweatpants and it ripped the scab off of the mole and blood was everywhere. EVERYWHERE. I called the ONLY skin doctor in my town where they LAUGHED at me because I didn't have insurance. I ended up at my family doctor who proceeded to tell me, get ready for this, THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG!! I went home believing I was going to be totally fine. The family doctor did make me an appointment with a surgeon but it wasn't until August, so I had to wait a few more weeks.
August 2009 - saw the surgeon, the second he saw my mole, you could see the look of panic on his face. Two days later, I was standing in my parents kitchen when I got the call. It was cancer. Cancer??
My life was turned completely upside down. :(
At the end of August 2009, I was having my first surgery. They did a sentinel node mapping and took a few lymphnodes. The surgeon came out and told my family he got what he could but since they aren't a speciality hospital, he wanted me to go to a place called the James Cancer Center. They let me recover for a few weeks, during which, I took a new job at a bank.
In September after meeting with my new cancer doctors, they decided I need more surgery. In October 2009, they did a wide decision with a SKIN GRAFT (worst pain ever). They took 20 lymphnodes and I woke up with drains in my stomach and so many things I never expected. A cathetor, a throat tube, etc... None of which they told me about.
I was only supposed to be hospitalized for 4 days and ended up staying for 9. My graft was bleeding out of bandage after bandage. My wound vac wasn't sucking the fluid off fast enough. It was a disaster.
In November 2009, they decided that I needed to do Interferon... But failed to mention how long. 11 damn months. I had my PICC line put in on November 30, 2009 and started my first bag of chemotherapy. This was also the day that my husband started his new job and could not be there with me. :( I had 20 bags of treatment but it was spread out over 40 days because my WBC was depleted and they didn't feel comfortable with going continuously.
I finished bags in January 2010 and they let me take a break. End of January 2010, I started self injections and observation days at the cancer center. It wad awful. I lost clumps of hair, my skin peeled off, I lost weight, vitamin d issues, insomnia, depression. I hope to God that I never have to do it again.
I quit my clinic trial 3 weeks early, I could not take it anymore and they told me I wasn't harming myself because I was at the lowest dose. I had my CT scan to determine if I was 100% cancer free and found out on October 28, 2010 I was CANCER FREE!!!!! I went to Cleveland House of Blues and saw Mayday Parade.
So, even though tomorrow is not October 28, I'm going to another Mayday Parade show to celebrate... Just like last year.
I will say this, I have an incredible support system and the best husband in the world. I'm still uneasy about the possibility of more cancer but we will cross that bridge if needed. I've had 3 biopsies since and they've been benign. :)
If you made it this far, thank you. I love sharing my story.
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