Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a while since I last wrote. Really up unitl now I did not have much to report. I've been recovering well from my surgery while at home. Had my 21 staples removed and my incision is looking as good as it can be. My diet now consists of foods that I can tolerate, which is a learn as you go type of diet. So far so good, not to many instances of getting sick so overall I feel I'm doing very well. To look at me I don't think you'd necessarily be able to tell that just 3+ short weeks ago I had major surgery.
With that being said I had my follow-up with my oncologist yesterday. Unfortunately the pathology results from my surgery were not quite what we were hoping for. My margins were not clear which means that there is a high probability that there is still some cancer remaining. This means that starting 5/16 I will begin another 5 weeks of chemo therapy in conjunction with radiation. Once that is completed, depending on how it goes, they want to follow-up with more chemo therapy. If you remember from the beginning of all of this I told you my type of cancer is a sneaky bastard and this is why they need to treat me so aggressively now however; they do feel that with this type the chances of it coming back is 50%. My plans is still to "fight like a girl" and just take it one day at a time. Am I looking forward to it...absolutely not. Am I going to do my best to get through this all, you bet your ass.
I met a man last week at Whole Foods of all places and he shared a personal story with me. At the end of our conversation he left me with something to remember..."Now is Not Forever" and I try to remember that everyday.
Thank you all so much for all the love and support and caring you have provided to me throughout this journey of mine. I will never be able to express the comfort it gives me and how much it lifts my spirits everyday knowing I have so many wonderfully caring people behind me.
I'll try and keep you posted the best I can.
Love - XOXOXOXO
Barbara
