My run with Cancer

I've been thinking a lot about dates recently… July 7th being the day I was originally diagnosed with breast cancer, 12 years ago.  I am also coming up on 5 years since my stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis… which is significant.  If you google 5 year survival rates, they aren’t pretty.  I therefore do not google. Continuing on the milestone theme, Ian informed me last week that my most recent chemo infusion was my 65th lifetime chemo.  In a way it blows my mind... but for the most part, it has become such the norm that I forget what life without this 2 week rhythm is like.   In terms of medical updates, things have been stable up until now for the most part.  Scans have intermittently shown marginal increases in size (marginal not measurable… which is a distinction I have learned to be key).  There has subsequently been no need for change in treatment from an efficacy perspective, although I’ve been starting to develop neuropathy which means my time ...

 Things are going well! I actually felt way better on the day of chemo this time.. no nausea!  That did kick in on day 2 but no worse than usual.  I have been able to manage fine.  It's more of a queasy stomach and taste aversion that true nausea. The cold sensitivity felt a little more intense than I remember, but that too is fading.  It's really wild... I mistakenly washed my hands with cold water while still in the chemo suite... and it felt like the water was electrified... as though I got jolted with electricity.   I had also remembered water being difficult to drink, but I haven't noticed that either this go-around... so I'm thankful for that. Thanks to everyone who reached out to me after the last post.  Even if I didn't respond... your words of support were truly a blessing.  Thank you Till next time! Shannon

 I typically haven't been updating this very much because things have been status quo for over 18 months.  We fine tuned the chemo side effects... I was truly living life and cancer really became more of a chronic condition.   At the beginning of the pandemic I remember praying "please let me outlive this thing so I can travel with my kids".  As time has gone on, that seemed more and more possible.  I had a great trip with some of my closest friends in October and was also able to take the kids away for a fun filled week in the Dominican just a couple weeks ago.  We had a fantastic time together.   I knew I was coming back to a CT scan and chemo within days and as usual, we had some scanxiety but that has become so routine that even that wasn't too bad.  We landed on Thursday (Nov 18), had a CT the next day (on Friday) and was to see my oncologist followed by chemo on the Monday. This was the first time I was able to see my oncologi...

 I realized I was overdue for an update but hadn't realized how long it's actually been! I think the main reason I haven't been online is that everything has been status quo for the most part.  We fine tuned the meds that help with chemo side effects to the point where I am functional almost the whole cycle.  I go to bed early the first few days but there is very little nausea and I'm sleeping better... really it has become my new normal.  I even started describing my cancer as a chronic condition.  I mean I'm not actively dying right now... so I am living with stable cancer. That being said... I was going to post this in June but then was afraid of jinxing myself.  My doctor let me know that it looked like my tumor markers were starting to trend upwards just as I was coming due for another set of scans.  I had to wait 2 weeks for those scan results which was tough... but the news was good!  No change in findings from last set of scans... disease ...

 Things have been going well since my last post. We had good scan results at the end of April; stable disease. I am continuing to manage the chemo well.  I had been getting more nausea but my doctor suggested an additional medication that has worked wonders the past 2 cycles and it is helping with sleep so win-win! May 13th was the 1 year anniversary of starting "palliative chemo" and was also the day I received my second dose of the Moderna vaccine.  Those 2 events coinciding have really struck me and it has taken me a little while to digest.  I remember saying to my sister, at the beginning of the pandemic, that I felt like I was in a race with covid.  There are places I want to go and things I want to do with Ian and the kids and I feel like I've spent the past year biding my time for that.  Yes, having all this "extra time" with the kids feels like it should be a gift.... but it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows.  As we all know, trying to navi...

 I know it's been a while since I've posted.  I suppose I just haven't had much to say!  Everything has become quite routine and steady.  Scans have continued to show stable disease and tumour markers have been stable.  I am managing side effects well (still have some nausea for a few days... but not horrible). I marked my 30th lifetime chemo treatment on February 3rd, 2021.  My incredible husband organized cards and gifts from friends and family to mark the day.  It was quite something.  It's actually kind of mind blowing to me when I think about it.  The chemo suite has become my most familiar place when it comes to healthcare.  I'm there more than anywhere else over the past year; every 2 weeks.  Many of the staff are the same since I started going in late 2017.   Kids are managing with school and the pandemic reasonably well.  We have managed through one period of isolation due to a positive case in a class, but a...

For those who have met me in my “adult life” in my current home town of Kitchener/Waterloo... you probably have no idea that I lost probably 3 years of my youth to depression and anxiety. I stumbled through my last couple years of high school; missing weeks or months at a time. I can still to this day, despite everything I’ve gone through up until today, say that those were the darkest days of my life. Many people think that The Big C is the worst possible thing you can face in life. But the thing about Cancer... you have a choice about how you are going to handle it, how you’re going to frame it, how you’re going to manage the things you can control. When you are in the depths of a mood disorder, you have no control over your emotional response or even your cognition around your emotions. You can feel utterly alone regardless how many people are trying to support you. The other facet of mental health that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough is the toll it takes on those around the ...