Jessie's Pink Journey

It’s been 3 months since my last infusion. Three months since I had the most intense anxiety of my life, not knowing what the next round of side effects would be. Three months since looking the sickest I’ve looked ever looked in my life.  BUT three months of my body getting stronger, three months of knowing that chemotherapy is behind me, & three months of knowing that I am continuing to THRIVE. When I was first diagnosed, I knew personally only one person that had breast cancer.  O.N.E. I felt clueless, lonely, & terrified that I would be on the biggest island alone.  Now I’ve made some incredible new friends that have also been diagnosed. These friends answer questions, understand my struggles, & continue to lift me up when I’m down. I’m also further along in my journey than these new friends, so I continue to give back with all the knowledge and experience that I have gained. I’ve given away so many of my special items that pulled me through and happy ...

*My radiation oncologist started a clothing line for patients going through radiation treatment. She sells and designs soft undergarments that help with the burning skin during treatment. She’s incredible and we’ve bonded quite a bit since my diagnosis. She’s starting a new website and has asked me to blog for her! It’s such a honor to help other women through my writing. I thought I’d share my first article. Enjoy!  Congrats! You are now part of a special club that no one wants to be a part of, and have received a diagnosis that you wouldn’t wish on absolutely anyone.    You’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, and suddenly your world starts spinning out of control.    Doctor’s appointments, to do lists, writing down questions—it’s not long until you begin feeling completely helpless, and find yourself questioning every single thing you’ve ever done in your life.   “Was it too much caffeine?”  “Too much meat?”  “Should I have paid more and bough...

Sometimes you have to forget cancer, put on a dress, curl your wig, and smile so big for your graduate. Hard to believe my beautiful baby girl will be starting kindergarten in the fall. She’s super smart, loves to ride her bike, adores her friends, isn’t a morning person, loves he brother, & is quite the artist. I hope she knows that I wake up fighting for her everyday. I want to show her how being a working mom and working through this awful diagnosis, that you can beat this and seeing her grow up is one of my greatest loves. Congrats Scarlett Rose. You make mommy so very proud.

Wednesday, May 30 at 2:45pm is when my first radiation appointment was. I will be having radiation daily for 5 weeks. That’s 25 appointments total. Every Friday I would see my radiation oncologist as she would check my skin and answer any additional questions that I may have.  Radiation therapy treats cancer by using high-energy waves to kill tumor cells. The goal is to destroy or damage the cancer without hurting too many healthy cells. This treatment can cause side effects, but they’re different for everyone. The ones you have depend on the type of radiation you get, how much you get, the part of your body that gets treatment, and how healthy you are overall. There are two kinds of radiation side effects: early and late. Early side effects, such as nausea and fatigue, usually don’t last long. They may start during or right after treatment and last for several weeks after it ends, but then they get better. Late side effects, such as lung or heart problems, may take years to sho...

May 8, 2018. I’m always remember this date. I have been looking forward to this day for months. My last infusion. My last day walking into the chemo room, feeling sick to my stomach and being injected with poison. The last time being anxious about how my body will respond to the “cocktail”.  I woke up feeling a sign of relief, proud of my strong body, & knowing that I am beating cancer- one day at a time. Even when I weak, picking myself up and not letting cancer rule my life. Knowing that I still have a beautiful life to live and cancer will never define me.  I woke up in the morning and Scarlett gave me a really sweet card. The theme of the day was, “No Mo Chemo”. It was too sweet. I was very emotional so of course I started crying. Tears of job!  I’m thrilled to be closing this chapter in my cancer journey, but it’s always sad to say goodbye to lovely people that made my appointments so much easier. I had the opportunity to meet and was cared for my some incredible...

As I exhale and feel a huge sigh of relief that chemotherapy is over, I’m overwhelmed with stress of my next chapter. It’s human to be terrified of the unknown. I hate the unknown, despise it actually. I’ve got another BIG appointment on 5.28.18 so if you can, take a second to send some positive energy my way. I’ll slay this chapter like I did the last, but the added love and support always helps. Let’s do the damn thing.  Radiation here I come!! 

Chemotherapy #7. Sooooooooo close to being done with this chapter, yet I still get nervous walking into the infusion room. Nervous about the initial port poke, nervous about the flushing of the port (tastes like alcohol and tends to make me pretty nauseous), & extremely nervous on how this round of medicine will affect my body.  But slowly celebrating my win of being DONE with this crap.  Because friends.... I might look ok, act like I’m doing well, have a good attitude, BUT this crap SUCKS. Every single part of it.  Ugh. But as o keep saying, I’m doing it! Day by Day.... doing it! I haven’t had any bad reactions from the last 2 infusions so they were able to turn up the drip to pretty quick with this eoubd. So I was only there for about 3-4 hours instead of 4-5. Yeah!  I got home and had a snack and then went to bed. I was feeling pretty worn out as I tend to get after these long days.  But then around 7:00pm I started to not feel too well. I immedi...