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Pink Sugar

Meet the face behind the posts!

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You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice. 

 

On the 12th of Feb 2016, I had my first mammogram and biopsy. I remember,

I cried non stop during the whole biopsy. Firstly the biopsy was so sore and secondly,

when the Dr said it looks like CANCER. 

The 13th/14th/15th was a big blur. The words cancer. Me thinking, don’t jump to

conclusions, wait for the results. 

 

On the 16th Feb 2016. The words arrived. You have breast cancer. And my life fell

apart. The second blow was, it had spread to the lymph nodes. After seeing a

dr 6 months earlier saying it’s nothing. My daughter was 1 and a half. She still

needed a mom. I wasn’t ready to leave her. The word chemo arrived after cancer

and wow reality set in. It was a bitter pill to swallow. Life for me had changed in a matter of seconds. 

 

As the days and weeks followed. Meetings, deciding which oncologist to go with. Emotions where so high that I cried almost every night. 

 

That day arrived on the 11th of March 2016 for my first red devil chemo to go in. The medi lady had called it the red angel, saying it’s the angel so look after me. And then as I sat in the chemo chair it’s like reality arrived. It was time. The nurse explained everything, and as she got ready the tears where already following. Before the needle was even in. The nurse was so nice saying and now, I haven’t done anything and you crying already. We had a lovely lady in front of us sitting with a friend that was fighting lung cancer who gave us the lowdown on what to bring and to eat as much as I can during chemo. Making us feel at home. The first night was beyond me. I felt so terrible, I cried and cried. Felt like my heart was outside my body beating so fast. 

 

So my journey started, kicking cancers butt. It felt like forever, it felt like it would never stop. It felt like a life time, and I cried so much asking when will it stop. 

 

On the 18th May 2017, 457 days from finding out, I was done with my last drip. 

52 needles

30 drips

32 days of radiation

4 biopsies

2 V markers

25 hours waiting

129 hours with a drip in

2 MIRS

5 ultra sounds

12 different doctors 

4 hours in surgery

 

On the 26th December I end up at the emergency room with a high temp and a pain in my right side. After being asked why I have not tested for covid I simply said it’s not covid. They ran full bloods and my CRP came back high along with my liver count. I was then taken for a ct scan and 30mins later the words your cancer has returned came out the lady’s mouth. How did she know? Well she couldn’t confirm but said to contact the oncologist right away. 

 

I emailed the oncologist that night and the next day he called and they booked me into Donald Gordon for 5 days to get the infection I had under control and to do a biopsy on the liver. The hardest 5 days I’ve had to go through as no visitors are allowed and you can’t leave your room cause of covid. 

Coming home on New Year’s Eve was amazing to finally be with my family. Emotions where high as we had no answers. 

 

On the 5th January 2021, the oncologist confirmed my cancer has returned and is in the liver. On the up side it’s the same cancer I had from my breast cancer which is the her2 positive. There is a target drug called herceptin that I responded to really well from my first treatment so I will go back onto that along with chemo. I will have to stay on herceptin forever now to control the her2 positive cancer. Chemo will be every 3 weeks for 6 treatments. 

 

With covid around chemo days will be hard, as no visitors are allowed. Thankfully I know all the staff at Donald Gordon and this is going to be a walk in the park as the ladies are just the best. Hopefully we will start next week and I’ll respond well to the treatment. 

We have taken everything in our stride and we look forward to starting chemo and kicking cancers butt one more time!

 

27 May 2021: CT Scan results

Most of you know me, you know I can never wait for results. I’m so bad with waiting. I had my scan on Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon I was already asking them to send me the report. Which actually arrived in my inbox on Wednesday at around 10am. 

 

Hiding behind my hands Brandon read through the results well a cold ghost ran throughout my body. I can’t explain the feeling…..It’s like the life has left you and now you freezing. 

As I part my fingers to read what is on the screen, I had to close them again. I buried my head in Brandon’s arms as he carried on reading the report. Finally I look back at the screen shaking from the cold rush that was going through me. 

 

As I start reading the tears start running. My emotions get the better of me but this is exactly why I wanted the report so that I can feel all the emotions before we see the doctor. 

Half the words I have no clue what they mean but I get through the whole report in a blur of tears and emotions. Brandon says it’s good news everything has gotten smaller. As the tears run down my face I’m not curtain why they are there. Is it relief that the treatment has worked or is it the fact that the cancer is still there and is still rather big. Trying to understand the report was challenging. I’m no doctor and really don’t understand some of the words. But I wanted to sit and understand it so I could ask all the questions I wanted to ask. 

 

It felt like a long day and at 7pm I was off to bed after an emotional day of reading and re reading the report. Roll on Thursday to see the doc and ask all my questions. 

My appointment was at 11:30am and I think we went in at 12pm. 

As I told the Dr I couldn’t wait for the report I already have it he says ok so ask away. I guess this is normal for him to have people like me. 

We go through all my notes and I understand everything the best that I can. 

 

So the Results of the CT scan are as follows:

Tumour 1: in the liver: 

was 85x61mm 

now 54x22mm

Tumour 2: in the liver: 

was 26x22mm 

now 13x10mm

Tumour 3: in the breast:

was 21x19mm 

now 12x5mm

 

Overall significant decrease in size and number in the liver metastasis.

Two small nodules in lung unlikely to be cancer as they have not changed size

Two nodes in neck, benign. 

Here come the hard one: 

The Cancer has shown up in the bone/spine at T5 and bone/neck C5. However the chemo has started killing it. It’s probably been there from the start of the treatment but wasn’t picked up on the CT scan in December. But we now know that it’s in the bone as well. 

So that’s a lot to deal with. And I am really putting myself out there. 

 

Phase 2 Treatment:

We will be carrying on with the Perjeta and the herceptin. These are both target drugs for Her2 positive breast cancer. This will be given every 3 weeks in a drip form. Then he will add a new drug called Zoledronic to help with the bone Mets. This will be given in the drip every 3 months. When we asked the Dr how long we will do this for, he simply said, for the rest of your life! It’s was a mic drop moment. 

Wow is all I could think. Wow wow wow. Anyway we have to move on and look at it as the new normal, just like Covid has shown us a new normal of life. 

Phase 2 treatment will begin next week Tuesday. As long as the medical aid approves the new treatment.

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