i live my life despite cancer

I was in the bathtub when I found my first breast lump. I thought it was strange that I hadn’t noticed it before because I have small breasts (something that really bothered me before). Then I went crazy lump hunting.

I was stunned…and soon, so was my doctor.

I am 29 and married with a 4 year old son. My doctor told me to wait for my menstrual cycle, probably because of my hormones, but I didn’t wait too long because it was so painful and that was all I could think about.

I had an ultrasound and the radiologist tapped me on the shoulder and told me not to worry, I was too young for cancer.

I decided to have an excisional biopsy on March 31, 1998. I remember waking up during my recovery and hearing the voice of the surgeon on the phone. I don’t remember what he said. When he told me it was cancer, I couldn’t even understand what he was saying. came back and spoke to me again.

I lived in a small town and knew nurses well. She put her hand on my shoulder and I looked at her while her doctor spoke. She had tears in her eyes. I remember thinking she thought, ‘She’s talking about me so she better watch out’.

Nine days later, I had a mastectomy in Minneapolis, three hours from home. I had microscopic lymph node involvement.

An oncologist walked into my room and treated me for over 20 years until I retired. We had many opportunities to fight cancer together, so he was such a wonderful gift to my life.

Chemotherapy in those days was brutal. No anti-nausea meds were given until you needed them.I definitely needed them on the first day of treatment.I was nauseated and barely functioned for 5 days. At the end of the first week, I said to God:

I have been doing it for over 24 years.

A year after my diagnosis, I was surprised to find out I was pregnant. I was so scared, but I knew God had bigger plans for my life than I could have ever imagined. My daughter will be 23 soon and I can’t imagine life without her.

Then in 2007 I felt a strange bump in my armpit. My doctor thought it was just an unstitched stitch, but he thankfully listened, so I investigated further. My mother had been diagnosed with lung cancer a few months before this, so she was my main concern at the time.

My surgeon returned to remove the lump, and at that point it was found that I had metastatic breast cancer. a paintbrush splattering on the wall.” Cancer was strewn all over the area. She said I would need to be treated as chronic – a label that has haunted me for a long time. I thought I could do it too!

Chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and tamoxifen followed. My mother was getting worse when I started radiation treatments. We didn’t live in the same town, but our radiologists were in the same facility and did treatments back to back. First her, then me. In 2008, while I mourned my dearest mother, they were compassionate and flexible in their continued treatment.I will never forget their kindness.

Before 2017, I started having more symptoms in my left hand and left arm. This is the same side as the mastectomy. No one could understand what was wrong, but the pain was changing me and making life unbearable.

On March 31, 2017, the date of my initial diagnosis, I received a call that I had cancer or inflammation. I knew what I was facing.

Fast forward to today and I have been in therapy for the rest of my life. I am on an IV every 3 weeks and have cancer in my brachial plexus and cancerous nodules in both lungs.

But I am 53 years old, a proud grandmother of three, and still alive, even though my left arm and hand no longer work.

This article was written and posted by Deb Larsen. This reflects the views of Deb Larsen and not those of CURE®. Also, this is not intended to be medical advice.

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