|
Dawn
Hi! My name is Dawn. I have a family with 2 young children.
I was diagnosed with IBC in April of 1999. Oh, how scared I was.
What was I
to do? I was just 35 years old, and my children were 6 and 9. Will I be leaving them
at such a young age?
What about my mother, my best friend. Why is this happening? What have I
done to deserve this? The answer is I didn't do anything, it just happened.
I was first told that I had a 30% chance of surviving. This just can't be.
I changed Doctors, and my odds of surviving got better.
Now I start my treatment. 4 treatments of Adriamycin/Taxotere, each 3 weeks
apart. I'm so bummed, I'm going to lose my hair, this is one thing I took pride in.
Okay, I guess it wasn't that bad. I received a lot of cool hats.
Now I have no appetite. Well, I could stand to lose a few pounds anyway.
I'll deal with it.
Oh No! Now they're going to pull out the 'big guns.' Could it get worse? Oh
ya! I began my High Dose Chemo/Stem Cell Transplant on 9/1/99.
This is the hardest thing in my life
I've ever had to endure. I never thought anything could be worse than
childbirth. This was.
Afterwards I had no immune system. I was sure this was it, my time is up. Oh
Lord, please take care of my children, my family. Don't let them mourn too
long, let them go on with their lives remembering that I am now their Angel in Heaven.
Well, Here I am!
Next, mastectomy. Will I still feel like a woman with only one breast? I was
terrified. Well, I actually got over this one very quickly. It wasn't as bad as I
thought. I am still the woman I was if not more of a woman now. A strong woman.
Now I'm at the last stage of my treatment, radiation. I think I can deal with this. I was
told it makes you tired, but oh well, I was tired already. So my family and I headed down
from the beautiful Colorado mountains where we live to Denver.
Denver is nice, we had
an apartment with everything we needed, and we were just a couple of blocks
from University Hospital where the people there have been working so hard, and
with such dedication to save my life.
I had 33 radiation treatments. We would come back up to the
mountains each weekend and there my beloved pets would be waiting,
wondering.....
Well, It's now May, 2001. I'm Alive!!!! It's been over 2 years since diagnosis
with no recurrence which means that I'm NED (no evidence of disease) and have been
for over a year!
I'm feeling GREAT!!! I'm actually going to start working again very soon. There
is the perfect little job for me at the library. Not too much stress, and I
love to read!
I wish all of you peace as you travel down this road. Yes, it's a hard road,
but you can do it!
Please, if you would like to email me with questions, or just a shoulder to cry on,
feel free to do so at: msmtndew@hotmail.com
Bless You All!
Dawn
| 
