pink it is

Today marks the start of October, certainly one of the sweetest months I know.

And today marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month.  With some

authority I share the importance of early detection...one out of eight women will be 

diagnosed with breast cancer ~ that is the reality.  But the reality is that the prognosis 

can be very good.  I placed my faith in my medical team and let them do what they needed.

A lumpectomy followed by 35 rounds of radiation ~ "sure".  No clear margins, so a second

lumpectomy ~ "do it".  Still no clear margins, so a mastectomy with lymph node removal
 ~ "let's get this done".  It wasn't bravery or courage....for me it was survival.  Period.
I had things to do.

And I was fortunate, my lymph nodes were clear, it had not traveled...
so no radiation needed, no chemo required.

On October 17th I will mark one year cancer free.

Now please do not get me wrong....there are realities that come with any medical

procedure.  I wish I would have known some of those things.  Regaining arm motion

after a mastectomy is work.  When your lymph nodes are removed, funky stuff

happens to nerves, and forever more that arm is off limits for any pokes.  Fatigue 

rocks you to the core.  Deciding to go through reconstruction, wear a prosthesis, or

just be ~ are all decisions that impact every day.  Practical things are not so easy.

And no one told me the implications this would have on something like life insurance...

I am now a risk to any underwriter ~ they won't bet on my life.  Thank goodness for

safeguarded health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.  No matter your political

persuasion, everyone should have enough heart to agree that denial of health insurance

based upon a preexisting condition is inhumane.  

I have learned more than I ever thought I would along this pink winding road.

My admiration to those women who bear a double mastectomy runs deep.  I cannot even

begin to imagine how so many women travel from surgery to recovery to chemotherapy.  

How they walk through that valley ~~ heroic!  But we all do what we need to, that is life.

And no one really wins or loses any battle in breast cancer....we all survive, moment by moment.

Today marks the start of October, certainly one of the sweetest months I know.