Reflections in Pink

When I got home from work the other day, Greg had pink flowers for me and had taped pink balloons to the counter to congratulate me on my successful battle.

The past five years of my life since battling cancer have had a lot of ups and downs. On Monday, while getting my every-3-week Herceptin treatment, one of my favorite nurses realized I had celebrated my 5 year anniversary. She had been reviewing the notes my oncologist, Dr. Joni Nichols, had written at my last appointment and came to me with tears in her eyes saying, "You are a miracle!" Yes, I am! If not for succumbing to the disease but enduring this laundry list of assaults on my body:

1. 5 months chemotherapy beginning Nov. 2002
2. Lumpectomies June 2003
3. Oopherectomy (ovary removal) August 2003
4. Radiation to sternum and spine beginning April 2004
5. Right breast mastectomy July 2004 (one month after Katherine's birth)
6. Right breast reconstruction September 2004
7. Left breast mastectomy February 2005 (didn't like swimming lopsided in Hawaii in January)
8. Left breast reconstruction April 2005
9. Chemotherapy beginning November 2005
10. Liver resection surgery March 2006
11. Chemotherapy beginning April 2006
12. Spleen removal October 2007

And there have been the ongoing treatments of Herceptin and Zomeda since 2002. Every three months I have a CT Scan or PET Scan and every six months my heart is tested for possible damage caused by Herceptin.

Factor in that during the past five years I adopted a daughter, work part-time for my dad, built a house, finished a spec house and sold two houses thus moving twice (in one year). Whew! No wonder I'm exhausted.

It's time to get the energy back and dust off the treadmill and build up the body for whatever may come next. Hopefully it will be something of my own choosing, like even better boobs!