Yes, I got the bad news on my 51st birthday, via phone call, while teaching a kids karate class. I hadn’t been prepared for this. From what my doctors had said, the little lump shouldn’t have been malignant. It didn’t feel right.
But it was malignant. The pathologist at the hospital said the whole lump wasn’t malignant. The cancer cells in it were more like someone had sprinkled pepper on it. Just little specks through the lump.
My best friend, Cindy, said if I wanted to go out and drown my sorrows, she’d drive. But this would solve nothing. As a martial artist, it was time to fight. Was I scared? Yes. I was fighting for my life.
My first surgery was for the lumpectomy, another to remove the lymph nodes from under my left arm, and one to put in a port-a-cath to administer the IV chemotherapy.
From diagnosis through treatment—eight sessions of chemotherapy followed by 33 of radiation—everything was a blur. Part of the blur was due to the treatment. First, the drug Ellence made me sick as a dog and the anti-nausea meds knocked me out. The second half of my chemo was Taxol. It gave me bone pain and tooth aches, temporary memory loss, and made my toes and fingers numb. I wrote notes in the living room so I’d know why I went into the kitchen.
My husband, Steve, was in Iraq for most of this time, which worried him sick. Our daughter, Dawn, was my greatest help. She took me to and from the clinic, helped clean the house, and made sure I’d eaten.
My only lasting challenges are lymph edema in my left arm on occasion, and a little neuropathy in my feet. I’ve found ALA helps.
For those of you still fighting, never give up. Attitude makes all the difference in the world. Learn to meditate. Find something to laugh at, take a walk and enjoy nature, or find something that still tastes good and indulge.
Do not throw a pity party. Instead, prepare for a marathon. This fight won’t be endless. Take it one treatment at a time. I did a mental countdown after each session. After the last of the radiation, we went out for a celebration dinner.
I’m 61 now, and have been cancer free for nine years. I survived.
Now get out there and win!
For more about my fight with breast cancer:
Mellie's Books 
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