In This Together, Breast Cancer Support

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Quilt of Hope

Awareness Ribbon Tree A few months before I was diagnosed with BC (breast cancer) I had purchased a beautiful new Baby Lock embroidery sewing machine. I enjoyed making warm flannel quilts for my family for any occasion. But when I got sick I didn't have the stamina to sew and really missed it. While I was in the final stretch with radiation last summer I began thinking about a Quilt of Hope. I decided it was finally time to make one for myself. I found a beautiful pink ribbon embroidery design and began planning around that theme....

Friday, November 1, 2013

I Am

Breast Cancer Wellness Magazine One year ago today my whole world changed when I reluctantly joined the Breast Cancer Club. I've had mixed emotions all day. Sometimes I'd be on the verge of tears. I could feel them behind my eyes, pressuring me into flooding my classroom. Then I'd get so busy that I forgot I'd even been on this journey. I've changed a lot in these past 12 months, but in a good way. I am healthy and have more energy than I did a year ago. I am grateful for having a professional, compassionate medical team. I am...

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Tamoxifen - Day 50

It's a miracle! The effects of my last estrogen blocker, Arimidex, is practically out of my body. And, boy, do I feel so much better! I don't think I will get to 100%, but 50 days into the change of meds, I sure am feeling like me again. Celebrated with a new cut, color and style! ...

Monday, October 14, 2013

News Worthy

Jewell Cardwell: Sisters share their breast cancer journeys and support others By Jewell Cardwell Beacon Journal columnist Published: October 13, 2013 - 10:57 PM Breast Cancer Survivors sisters, Carol Ford, left and Christie Hickman.(Family photo) In recognition of October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, two local sisters are hosting an “I Won” event to celebrate their battles and recent victories. Here’s a little of their story: “My sister (Carol Landon Ford) and I are breast cancer survivors,” Christie (Landon)...

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Planning Our First Event

Christie is a creative woman who has many, many wonderful ideas. When she feels a project coming on, the wheels start spinning, ideas start flying and thoughts are written down on anything handy. See that book of notes? If you remember, you are lucky....(joke).....what I was going to say: If you remember, there is such a thing as chemo brain. It is hard to hold onto a thought. We just have to write down everything! One page has a sentence written on it, but it is upside down on the page. It was...

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Tamoxifen - 1 week

One o'clock in the morning - after waking up ump-teen times, I decided to stay up for a bit. Took 2 more pain pills and logged on. I've had some inquiries about the effects of the Tamoxifen. Can't say it is any better than Arimidex ... yet, it's only been a week. The pain is intense and I just wish I could describe it in a way to make myself understood. I'm trying not to let this show at work and when I come home in the evening, I collapse. My bones feel like they have been smashed by a sledge-hammer. ...

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Arimidex vs. Tamoxifen

I have been taking Arimidex since August 2012. As the months go by, my pains are more extreme. My husband is the only one I really "show" just how bad. After all, I'm in remission. I should be "all better now". That is what most folks think. They don't understand that poison streamed through my body killing cancer cells AND my good cells. It takes time to repair, it takes time to get your strength back. I don't mean to sound so whiny I am very grateful that I have made it this far through "my journey". I do try...

Monday, August 19, 2013

Thrive!

Tonight was a long time coming .... A celebration dinner with my good friend "M" and my sister, Christie. M & I had planned to get together after our treatments were done to celebrate coming through to the other side (M was diagnosed 2 days before I was). When Christie was diagnosed, we then decided to wait until the three of us could come together and make a toast to success! Tonight was it! Panara's.... yummmmm I was thrilled to introduce the 2 of them and tickled pink when we giggled like school girls as we...

Friday, August 2, 2013

Happily Ever After

For several years I had been hoping one of our wedding anniversaries would be worthy of a cruise. When the 20th anniversary rolled around in 2008 Richard had lost his job, we'd lost my sister, Cathy, among several other loved ones and frankly, didn't feel like celebrating. So, I set my sights on our 25th anniversary, but inadvertently joined the BC Club. When we calculated all of my treatments and discovered I'd be finished 2 weeks before this special anniversary, neither one of us could even begin planning something that far in the...