My New Journey

I have been absent from my blog for a very long time. The pandemic, understandably, prevented my travels for a couple of years. When I did start traveling again, I did not get back into writing regularly. I did take a few domestic trips and one international trip (a Douro River cruise in November 2022), but found it difficult to resume blogging.

Then the bottom fell out of my world. In March 2023, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. This came as a shock because I have faithfully gotten my mammograms every 1-2 years for the past 22 years. I ended up having a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy in April. My 3 nodes were negative, but they did not get ALL of the cancer–it had invaded the muscle of my chest wall. After discussion with my family and doctors, I elected to have a complete mastectomy instead of just going in and removing more of the breast and muscle.

Nothing could have prepared me for the first time I looked at myself after that second surgery. I never thought about my breasts much, but having a large incision across my chest with no nipple was a shock. I have since gotten used to it, but that first peek was difficult. On top of that, I suffered a second degree burn on my chest from using heat–I am numb in the area and didn’t realize how hot the compress was. This is what I call a “rookie mistake” for someone who works in healthcare and should KNOW better.

Fortunately, my oncotype showed that chemotherapy would not be beneficial, but I do need to get radiation. I am waiting for that to be scheduled as I write this. I have also been undergoing physical therapy since much of my chest muscle was removed on the right side. I was given the option of having a bilateral mastectomy and/or a reconstruction, but I have significant cardiac issues so I elected NOT to do either.

Speaking of cardiac issues, they have worsened. My cardiologist feels it is due to the stress of having two surgeries so close together. I have developed intermittent atrial fibrillation and now have to take a potent antiarrhythmic agent (amiodarone) as well as a blood thinner. After my 4 weeks of radiation is over, I will have to have a procedure on my heart called a cryoablation to try and kill the aberrant conduction in the top part of my heart. This situation has actually scared me much more than the cancer diagnosis. Although I have had heart problems since my 40s, it was relatively stable and inactive for almost 2 decades and never affected my activities. Now I am afraid to do much of anything for fear of triggering the rapid rhythm. It has caused me to cancel two of my trips–one in May to visit cousins in Florida, and one at the end of June to see my British cousins who I haven’t seen since before the pandemic.

So, I have embarked on the most challenging journey of my life so far. I have had to take short-term disability from work for all of this, which adds to the stress. I am somewhat of a workaholic and have never been off more than 4 weeks at a time since I was 16! Even after having babies, I only took 4 weeks off. So I have decided to get back into writing, both here on my blog to document my cancer journey, and possibly a memoir about my health challenges. Even if I don’t get it published, it would be something for my children and grandchildren to have.

I would appreciate any positive energy and prayer that can be sent my way! I would also be very interested in hearing from others who have fought this fight–either cancer or cardiac. I do intend to attend some support groups, but have not done so yet as I am trying to navigate through all the medical appointments and planning. I thank you all for stopping by, and do hope to get back to writing about actual travels in the future!