As of Monday October 24th, I am 4 years cancer free.
Wow!
How amazing is that?
I spent half of this week in Philadelphia, PA and a Society of Women Engineers Conference. What an empowering week it has been.
I got to meet another Integral Group engineer from our Vancouver office. What an amazing young woman! Meeting people like her makes me feel so much better about our future. She is incredibly intelligent and inspiring. I hope to live up to her example some day.
We attended some incredible talks and walked the job fair floor speaking with the young people we met. It was a truly uplifting experience. I am definitely going to recommend we recruit from SWE next year.
I stayed pretty low key until last night when I finally went out to dinner. I had 4 amazing young women with me. We talked about engineering and how much adventure they had ahead of them. We spoke about their respective engineering majors and what the wanted to do after college. I told them what I do and what my company is about. It was a fabulous evening. I gave them my card and asked them to feel free to contact me with questions about anything.
So back to the topic of being Cancer Free!
I almost can't believe it has been 4 years. I remember at the end of September in 2012 I was competing on my office Innsbrook Corporate Games team and found a lump in my upper right arm very near the original site of my mole that proved to be Melanoma 2.5 years prior. I made a panicky call to my surgical oncologist's office for an appointment but they couldn't get me in right away. I cried on his secretary's shoulder until she got me in the day he got back from vacation. He took one look at my arm, felt the lump and said, "don't leave until the pathology folks come down to get a sample," then he left. Just 2 hours later I got the call from Dr. Neifeld confirming my worst fear. I remember calling Mom and Dad to tell them. Mom got off of the phone and looked up flights and was in Richmond within 2 days. We went round and round with the insurance company. Dr. Neifeld argued with them multiple times. I cried and Mom finally said to get the damn scan, the best one for my kind of cancer and we would deal with the cost later. Mom and I had a great month and a half together before my surgery. God I loved having her with me. I picked her up at the airport with Abby, my Great Dane, in tow. We drove north to Maryland to see some friends of mine. That was one of the best weekends we could have asked for. Mom got to meet some new friends and we had an amazing time. Mom got to eat the first baguette in years that weekend. My friend Laura is also gluten intolerant and had gone to a gluten free bakery in Alexandria where they have mastered really good bread. Mom was in heaven! (Laura - My mother always loved you for that leftover baguette. She stretched it out for 3 more meals.)
For those who don't know my Mom, she is my very favorite person in the world. I miss her terribly. I can't wait to see her and Dad in a few weeks. Sadly Mom may not know me when I get there. you see she has Alzheimer's with Lewey Body Dementia. A most insidious disease combination. Alzheimer's is bad enough, but toss in the other and it takes the mind so quickly. Just 4 years ago Mom was great. She worried about memory loss but she wasn't diagnosed yet and was fully functional. She hasn't been in a home for more than 2 years and her mind and body are failing at an alarming rate.
So, back to having my mom with me for more than a month. She got me through surgery like a champion. She made me chicken soup after the surgery. I love my mother's soup. We cooked and laughed together. We took day trips and had an amazing time. I miss her so much. I hated to see her go back home but I know she missed Dad and he missed her too. Another thing I really love is that they have always had such a strong relationship. Dad didn't like to travel like mom did. He had no problem letting her travel when she wanted to. His trust in her was complete, as was hers for him. I wish I could find something like what they have. Their Love is beautiful to behold.
So, back to being cancer free. I know I am all over the place here, but you'll just have to forgive me for it.
January after my surgery I joined a study at the Medical College of Virginia. Mom was against it as it was more than a year long and she wanted me to live a full life and just move on from the cancer. Unfortunately I couldn't move on without doing something preventative. This was round two for me and once you have round two, you really want to do something to make sure it doesn't come back. Also the tumor was in a lymph node so the chance of yet another reoccurrence was quite high. I was terrified of doing nothing. After all I had done nothing for 2.5 years, look what that got me?
I met Dr. Poklepovic his nurse, Maria Quigley around the first of January of 2013. just a few tests later and I was accepted into the study. I was randomized into the into the high dose of interferon
I went into my first treatment January 14th, 2013. If you look back to my first posts in this blog, you can see how things went. Treatment was an adventure to say the least. I also firmly believe it was the best thing I could have done for myself.
While immunotherapy wasn't a picnic, I made it through and I am so glad I did it. I met some amazing people along the way. I learned a lot about my limits and I feel stronger than I have ever felt in my life. I am still working to get my endurance back up to where it was before treatment though. There is always room to improve.
this time next year I will be having a party to celebrate being cured. I'll be able to donate blood for the first time since 2009. I plan on making an appointment to donate October 24th next year. I can't wait!
Love and hugs for everyone!
Brenda
