4 years ago today.....

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wrsmith2x
wrsmith2x Member Posts: 410
edited June 2014 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

I heard those awful words....."you have breast cancer".  And yet here it is 4 years later and I am cancer free, I have all my hair back, and I am living life.

This too shall pass......much love to all of you and wishes for speedy recoveries!

Namaste'.

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  • Meggy
    Meggy Member Posts: 530
    edited November 2011

    So, so, so happy for you!  Hope you join you soon.

    Meg

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  • TifJ
    TifJ Member Posts: 1,568
    edited November 2011

    Congrats! I want so much to be able to post this in 3 years!!

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  • christina1961
    christina1961 Member Posts: 736
    edited November 2011

    Congratulations!! I'm so happy for you!  Four years is fantastic!!!  I hope to be there myself some day.

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  • star1dog
    star1dog Member Posts: 9
    edited November 2011

    I am so happy to hear the success stories as I am newly diagnosed and halfway thru my first round of chemotberapy. Mostly tired all the time...

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  • LRM216
    LRM216 Member Posts: 2,115
    edited November 2011

    Congrats to you!  May this continue for decades and decades and decades.  I hope I too am fortunate enough to get to where you now are.  Best always to you,

    Linda

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  • Sugar77
    Sugar77 Member Posts: 2,138
    edited November 2011

    Congratulations!  Two years and counting for me....

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  • Titan
    Titan Member Posts: 2,956
    edited November 2011

    Yay! Wrsmith!  so happy happy for you!  I'm curious as to what your onc tells you about your prognosis now..does he/she said that you are in the clear..or almost?  How often do you see your oncs?  I want to be there too!

    I'm 32 months out next week...anxious to celebrate 36 months!... Have heard the first year can be iffy...but the year 2-3 can be scary also.

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  • pennylane
    pennylane Member Posts: 177
    edited November 2011

    So happy for you....It is a wonderous thing, isn't it...to face your mortality and then find yourself still whole and standing several years out...Thanks for posting and keeping the faith....best wishes to you....P

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  • wrsmith2x
    wrsmith2x Member Posts: 410
    edited November 2011

    Thanks guys!  I certainly didn't mean to be insensitive to those who continuously struggle with this awful disease (Stage IV) but rather give those of you who are in the midst of your cancer treatments some hope. 

    Titan, my onc. tells me I'm done.....will only see him one more time I think...in a year.  I have a nagging ALP that continues to be high but we are not too worried about it.

    I will have to say that it never leaves your mind.  Still aches and pains can give me pause but I try to maintain an attitude that whatever happens, good or bad, will pass.

    Thank God for good doctors and smart people that "cancer" is no longer an automatic death sentence!

    Namaste'.

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  • Titan
    Titan Member Posts: 2,956
    edited November 2011

    wrsmith..you certainly aren't being insensitive...we love it when tn's come on here with their success stories...we need to hear them...triple negative has a a really bad rap and when the newbies look on the internet they can tend to freak out..reading stories like yours and others give them some hope!

    Yes..we have had several good friends die from triple negative..we love and miss them..we hate this freaking cancer...but on the other hand there are women that survive this also...no one really knows...

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  • Suze35
    Suze35 Member Posts: 1,045
    edited November 2011

    wrsmith2x - please don't EVER feel guilty for coming on here and sharing your great news!  As Titan very rightly points out, TN gets such a bad, scary rap, that it is vital to hear the success stories.  I take just as much pleasure in them as everyone Laughing.

    I may be Stage IV, but it still gives me hope that I can have a great run, hearing how others are doing.  Best wishes for another healthy year.

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  • Titan
    Titan Member Posts: 2,956
    edited November 2011

    Suze..you are going to have a great run..I know it..!

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  • yellowdoglady
    yellowdoglady Member Posts: 349
    edited November 2011

    wrsmith2x,

    Good job!  Stay healthy, my friend.  The worst words I ever heard were, "Is anyone here with you today?"  "No?  Okay, please sit down."

    Four years in the clear is just fabulous.  You can have that happily ever after thing we all want.  But please, please do stay in contact with your team and let them know if anything seems amiss to you.  What they say to me is that I should be vigilant the rest of my life because if I can make a killer tumor once, I can possibly do it again.

    So go ahead and do the Happy Dance, but keep an eye open in the future to keep yourself safe.

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  • Titan
    Titan Member Posts: 2,956
    edited November 2011

    Nice post Yellow Dog Lady..you are spot on...!

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  • yellowdoglady
    yellowdoglady Member Posts: 349
    edited November 2011

    Suze35,

    As I like to say, strong women can do great things.  I lost my stepsister earlier this year, but she was about 8 years as a Stage IV, and was diagnosed that way.  A test showed she was BRCA positive, and no one could have guessed that as she was adopted.  There was no family history to share with her.

    You need to stay as strong as possible and LIVE my friend.  Hear your favorite music.  Eat your favorite food.  Hug your favorite friends. Read your favorite books.  Love your family.  That can keep you happy enough to stay well for a long, long time.  It's people who do that sort of thing who can drop their markers and surprise everyone.  I wish that for you.

        

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  • thatsvanity
    thatsvanity Member Posts: 391
    edited November 2011

    Praise God Amen!!!!!

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited November 2011

    wrsmith2x, congratulations on your milestone, and many thanks for sharing it with us all!

    Judith and the Mods

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  • Suze35
    Suze35 Member Posts: 1,045
    edited November 2011

    yellowdoglady - thank you for your kind words.  No family history with me either, BRCA-, just darn luck and whatnot.

    I live each day more fully now - no doubt.  Hug often, don't stress the little things, make more memories rather than gather more stuff.  I laugh, joke, get angry, and generally manage to forget occasionally, which is a blessing.  I read a fabulous quote about hope, one that keeps me going and I see first thing every AM:

    Jerome Groopman, MD in his book: "Anatomy of Hope":

    "Each disease is uncertain in its outcome and within that uncertainly we find real hope, because a tumor has not always read the textbook, and a treatment can have an unexpectedly dramatic impact. This is the great paradox of true hope. Because nothing is absolutely determined, there is not only reason to fear but also reason to hope.  Hope is a belief and expectation."

    I can't see the future, so I prefer to live in the present and short-term, and it will sort itself out Laughing.

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  • yellowdoglady
    yellowdoglady Member Posts: 349
    edited November 2011

    Oh, Suze35, you must live in every day and expect a future.  That is what all amazing women do, or so I'm told.  It's working so far so good as I am told.

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  • CharB22
    CharB22 Member Posts: 310
    edited December 2011

    Thank you all for these wonderful words of encouragement. I just found out yesterday that I am TN. I did what I never should have done - I started googling it and then I freaked because I saw that the survival statistics were so much lower, but then I stopped and thought of a conversation I had with one of my many SILs a couple of weeks ago when I first learned of my dx (she's a nuclear medicine tech). Those stats are only numbers and I have no idea how skewed they are....did those that died not have great healthcare or even health insurance? What kinds of additional stressors did they have? Did they have other medical conditions that complicated their treatments or health? Did they not follow their treatments as planned? There are waaaayyyy too many variables. And most importantly, they aren't me. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere any time soon.

    And as my super wonderful, super supportive DH said as we first walked out of my BS's office when I got the news: You are not battling breast cancer, you are surviving it.

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  • wrsmith2x
    wrsmith2x Member Posts: 410
    edited December 2011

    Well,

    I guess from my "Crap" post that you guys realize that IT came back.  Just as I celebrated 4 years NED I had a mammogram and 1 month and 3 days after that 4 year date I am diagnosed with a recurrence.

    This sucks!

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  • yellowdoglady
    yellowdoglady Member Posts: 349
    edited January 2012

    Yes, it sucks loudly!  Are you prepared to go to battle again?  Does your team have a plan?

    Can we do anything to help you?

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