I did have a very amazing week this week though that I would like to share. I celebrated my 33rd birthday, Happy Birthday to me! My coworkers surprised me with the most amazing cake ever. I included a picture above :)
I also got to have lunch with two unbelievable ladies. They are sisters. One of the sisters was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer at the begining of this year. Due to this diagnosis, she was genetically tested and they found her to be BRCA positive. Her sister decided to get tested after this and was also found to be BRCA positive. So her sister made the same decision I did and had a PBM with immediate reconstruction in Febuary of this year. Five weeks later, she was out running again and recently ran a marathon!!
Talk about a HUGE source of encouragement! Talking to these ladies was just amazing. Hearing from someone who had had the exact same surgery I am about to have was so calming for me. Hearing that this was merely a bump in the road for a couple of weeks before she was out and about living her life is helping me to focus on the fact that in a couple of weeks I will be out and about living MY life. Only without the contant stress of thinking "when am I going to get cancer."
One of the most stunning parts of the whole lunch was a comment made by the sister who is fighting cancer. She stated that she was glad that she had been diagnosed with cancer. Glad?!?! All I could think was how could anyone be glad? But she went on to say that it was due to the fact that she was diagnosed that her sister was able to proactively prevent breast cancer. And that her children and her children's children would have the chance now to break that cycle of not knowing and go on to prevent this type of cancer. And I thought, this means that MY children will be able to test for the gene and save themselves from this horrible disease. What an amazing outlook to have. This woman is unbelievable. Truely a hero.
So now I am waiting for next Thursday. Anxiously? Yes. Excited? Hmmm, I wouldn't go that far. But I am ready for this to be over so I can move on and focus on bigger and better things.
Oh, and in case anyone is interested, the cake was delicious!
No comments:
Post a Comment