When I first began my breast cancer journey, I couldn’t get enough input of what to expect and craved glimpses through the journey of others. I wanted to know what mine would be like. Now that I am finishing up the middle part—chemo—I have some room for reflection on my journey thus far.
Deciding to have the mastectomy was the easiest part of this journey, for me. I wanted to have the least possible chance of the breast cancer coming back and I figured it would be a great opportunity to sculpt my body. What woman wouldn’t want that? Dealing with the pain from the mastectomy and the reconstruction, now that was a whole other story of survival, whew! I have a high pain tolerance, but believe me; pills were in plenty of supply. The only thing that I had to worry about was taking too many or staying on them for too long, but my husband kept that in check.
Getting chemo was a HUGE stressor for me. I lost 10 pounds before the first treatment from stress and worry alone. Then I had the first one, gauged my body’s reaction, and moved on to the next and the next. Now, I’m at the end, the last one YEAH!
Awesome is all I can say! It feels great to be able to say I’m on the last one. From the first round, all I pictured was the last round and now it’s here.
What’s next? The second part of my reconstruction surgery takes place in a few weeks and then I start hormone therapy.
I believe that taking every procedure individually, one at a time, and only dealing with that procedure or test or what have you, is what has enabled me to be successful at this. Plus, following my doctor’s orders, getting plenty of rest and NOT sweating the small stuff and a lot of BIG stuff has proved to be a winning prescription for success.
In addition, my husband and I decided to move our lives to the lowest point of “simpleness” that we could, in all areas. Drama-filled people were kicked to the curb, housekeeping and cleaning are taken care of, and most of all, we decided to love and cherish the heck out of each other. Especially since we both suffered devastating diagnoses in 2024. Absolutely nothing is guaranteed, so make the most of every moment. Keep it simple.
Read more! Carol has generously shared her breast cancer recovery journey with us at DietsInReview.com.