Kicking cancer's ass - day 730

A crazy thing happened to me this morning.
I took a shower, got dressed, put on some make up and dried my hair.  Then I went to my jewelry box to put on my bling for the day.  None of that is unusual.
Then - something caught my eye in the mirror on my dresser and I did a double take.

I LOOK LIKE ME!!

True, my hair isn't nearly as long as it used to be.  I'm carrying an extra twenty (ok, twenty-five) pounds and I have more scars than I can count.  But on a quick glance in the mirror?  The lady looking back at me reminds me of me.  Finally.

Two years ago tomorrow, I began the kicking cancer's ass journey.  It all started with my first chemo treatment, and it's still going on.  As far as I know, I am cancer-free.  No news is good news.  But the side effects from treatment and the future surgeries (yes, there will be another one) and the medication.... it seems never ending.  

But you know what?  I'm alive.  I'm happy.  I'm able to be Michelle the mom, and Michelle the wife.
I'm Michelle.

God is good.

Kicking cancer's ass - day 721

Just this.

After the turmoil of the other night, I needed this.
Thanks to my beautiful Bella friend Kindra for sharing. 

Kicking cancer's ass - day 720

Insomniac blogging...

Tonight (or should I say last night, since it's 12:15am?) I had the worst headache I've had in years.  Almost two years, to be exact - when I had the WORST.HEADACHE.EVER after my first chemo and I ended up in the emergency room.  

Thankfully I didn't end up in tears - or the emergency room - tonight, especially since Hubby is away for work.  It did take some heavy-duty pain meds and lots of chocolate to dull the migraine, though, and I'll probably wake up tomorrow feeling like someone took a 2x4 to the back of my head.

Speaking of headaches....I've been a little worried lately because I've had a headache almost every single day since we got home from New York (a week ago).  I want to blame it on Tamoxifen (I'm not supposed to take it for a few days when I fly, so I was off it, on again, off again and now back on, and it really does a number on you with side effects when you do that).  I also want to blame it on allergies now that I'm back in lovely west Texas.  I could also blame it on the heat, because I went from waking up to temperatures in the 50s in NY to Texas in August, which means almost 100 degrees every damn day.  

However, I had cancer.  So you know what that means.  Pain, especially something out of the ordinary that doesn't go away - or keeps coming back- equals something to worry about.

I honestly think, though, that most of the headaches I've been having are tension headaches.  I know for a fact tonight's was.  You'd think I would be nice and relaxed, right?  It's summertime, we just got back from vacation, I've been out of work for over two weeks..... and yet I ended up with a killer migraine.  

One of the things I love the most, that I spend the most time on, is causing me a lot of stress lately.  What's the problem?  I'm a pleaser.  I want everyone to be happy.  I want everyone to get along.  I want everyone to do things for the right reasons.  And yet they don't.  People let attitudes and immaturity and spite get in the way of the bigger picture, and it's hurting me and those close to me.  

You would think that at the ripe old age of 42 I would learn not to take people at face value anymore.  I think my "friends" really are my friends.  Just because someone smiles at me doesn't mean they like me.  People rarely do what they say or say what they mean.  I don't have a mean-spirited bone in my body, though.  I keep looking for the positives, giving people the benefit of the doubt, and I probably always will.

That's probably something I should be proud of, but right now, tonight, I'm sick of the selfish, dog-eat-dog world we live in.  People waste so much time and energy on things that don't really matter.  I've spent over 700 days with the knowledge that I had cancer.  SEVEN HUNDRED.  For every one of those days, I've worried that I could still have cancer, or that I could have it again.  My life will never be the same.  THAT is the kind of thing that matters, that's worth getting upset over.  Life is too damn short.

Good thing it's past my bedtime or I might start looking for that stress ball.

Tomorrow I'll have my cancer ass-kicking mojo back.

And I hopefully won't have a headache.

Kicking cancer's ass - day 703

Two years ago today, August 1, 2013, I heard the words "you have cancer". 

That was just the beginning of the bad news.... The cancer had spread to my lymph nodes; there were three tumors, not one; my genetic testing was positive.  What does all of that mean? It means that for two years I have been kicking cancer's ass.  I had eight chemo treatments.  I've had six surgeries. I've had thirty-three radiation treatments.  Cancer took my breasts, chemo took my hair and the last twenty-four months have taken a toll.  But hard as it may have tried, cancer didn't win.

Two years ago today I became a cancer survivor. 

I refuse to say "cancer free". I have no symptoms and none of my blood work indicates a problem, so I'm going with the mantra "no news is good news".   But doctors don't tend to use the term remission anymore, and I have a hard time convincing myself that my body has no tiny microscopic ugly cancer cells just lurking, waiting to rear their ugly heads. My doctor doesn't do scans unless something warrants them, so I have no real proof that there isn't any cancer growing somewhere inside me.  That's why I choose to say I'm a cancer survivor.

Today, August 1, 2015, I will become something else - a stepdaughter.  Today our family celebrates.... we celebrate a mother and daughter both being on the other side of treatment and surgeries, and both being cancer survivors.  And we celebrate a couple's love as my mom and her guy finally tie the knot.

Happy Wedding Day Mom and Dana. I wish you many more years of love and happiness.