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goldenbride's picture
goldenbride Connect

Survivor: Breast Cancer

Dear Cancer, You have put me through HELL. For the last 71 days you have invaded my life; messed up my family; and made me cry. I think you are a mean spiteful bastard that doesn't realize I already have enough on my plate. My three children are high maintenance; my life is still in chaos from relocating to Plymouth; my husband and I enjoy boring. BUT you have taken that nice, quiet, boring life and changed it into a world of running and doctor appointments and nausea and pain and drugs and worry. You have made me afraid to move, bend, think, and leave the house. You have made me quite knowledgeable in the terminology of all things breast cancer related. The words 'Stage 3A Invasive Ductal Carcinoma' are words I never thought would cross my lips. You traumatized me when you reared your ugly face at my initial mammogram ultrasound biopsy. While I was there all alone-you became my number 1 enemy. It took everything I had to hold it together just long enough to break the news to my husband; my family. You made my husband panic; you made my dad relive every second of my mother’s cancer in those first few minutes after I had to tell him. You suck. You have made me go through the absolute hell of a double mastectomy. Pain that no one could imagine. You made me go through the hell of drains and tissue expanders. You have made it impossible to lie on my stomach-and that is one of the only joys in my day. Well, it WAS anyway. Asshole. You took away my happiness; you took away a chunk of my children’s innocence. They now are aware of your name; they are aware of words NO CHILD should have to know....things like mastectomy, hysterectomy, drains, incisions, ports, mammograms, menopause, chemotherapy, radiation, and BALD. You snuck your way into my lymph nodes causing more extensive surgery...more scars, more worry-a lifetime of baby-ing that arm. You have made my upper torso a source of stiffness and pain. You have made me go through a second surgery to remove all my female organs-throwing me into early menopause, causing me MORE rage and mood swings and pain than before. You have scarred up my body more than the pregnancies of THREE children ever did. You have made me go through medical tests/procedures that 90% of people have never even heard of and couldn't imagine. The pain from these procedures is unbelievable. UnFATHOMable. Some of the things I have been put through have damaged my spirit. You have made it necessary to have a port put in so I can receive the "lifesaving" chemo.....which is made from MUSTARD GAS. Seriously. You have made me go on a crash diet. You have made me become a 'hat person' when I have never worn one in my life. You have made me become close enough to the pharmacist that we're on a first name basis. You have introduced me to more medications and prescriptions than I would ever normally put in my body. You have humbled me to have to ask for help from people that I barely know; people that I would never show weakness to. You have made me rely on others for things I would never before do. You have made it impossible to do certain things for myself-simple things like get a shirt on or shower. You interrupt others' schedule by attacking me...making my family and friends take time out of their day or off of work to help out. You made me afraid; made me feel small that first day walking into the 'chemo room'. You took away all my bravado and self-esteem; made me feel meek and sickly. You put me through even more pain every time they access my port. You made me shake and shiver; feel nauseous and unable to be a Mom to my children. So for all of the hell you have put me through and all of the hell yet to come all I have to say to you is "bring it." Go ahead, bring it. See, what you DON'T know about me and what not many people know about me...is that I am a fighter. This is such a small portion of my life that this isn't going to bother me long. I may be down right now and beaten up...but my Family has my back. My Friends 'got my back'. I have this humongous support group behind me EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. They are AMAZING. You see, we had this HUGE party this past weekend, and you weren't even invited. We celebrated my fight. We brought awareness to the world about you and your evil doing and will save at least ONE life telling people to get a mammogram; to see their doctor regularly for breast exams; to do their self-exams at home in the shower or in bed. WE, cancer....are onto you. You will never take these special people away from me....we will do what we can to kick you out of our lives permanently. Some of these people have been in my life since I was 5 years old. Some of them are brand new in my life and only have popped into it because of YOU. One more thing to 'thank' you for I guess. You have brought me new friends; better friends. You have brought my existing friends closer again; closer than ever before to stand beside me and fight you. You have brought people back into my life that I haven't seen in yeeeears. Some as long as 18 years ago. You see, these people came together to support me. To cheer me up. To help me. They have started getting mammograms they have been brought together to reconnect with each other. They too are making sure that you are not part of my life for any longer than necessary. We surround ourselves with light and laughter....just to keep you out. I have reconnected with 2 amazing people through all this and the two of them have become a support system beyond ANYthing I could ever have imagined. They have helped us since day one of relocating back to Plymouth and continue to give of themselves to our family. They are selfless in that they have done everything for us-from helping us move, to cleaning our toilets when I just can't. You cancer have strengthened my relationship with my Soul Sister, Betsy. You have brought me back to having her in my daily life, and you can bet your ass I thank God every day for her. Not you. So there. You have brought my husband and I closer together than ever before. You have taught him what a Moms job entails. You have taught him patience, caring, and selflessness. You have taught him that not even YOU can keep me down. You have brought out strength in him that I'm not even sure he knew about, much less me! You have brought my love for him to the surface; shown me the exact reasons I'm glad I married him. You may sometimes bring us stress, and strain, and burden. But have you met my KiDs?!?!? You got NOTHIN' on them. They have kicked my ass on a daily basis for years in preparation to fight you. They have hardened me, made me stronger, and made me who I am today....so I can take you down. You have lifted me up to a place where God is now taking over. You have brought me to His attention and He's 'on it'. You can't go up against Him and win, cancer. Not with this chick. Bring on the chemo, the sickness, the baldness, the radiation, more surgeries....you name it. I have no other choice than to go through this, so I may as well bring my A-Game..... you know the one. The one where I beat your ass and you never come back. Fuck off and Die Shelly Boob Envy Copyright 2012 Shelly (Knowlton) Jones www.BoobEnvy.webs.com
Feb 20 2013 7:29pm |
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