So to briefly tell you my story, I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in November of 2009. I had a mastectomy, chemo, radiation, the whole bit. Having battled and won, I had developed the confidence to fight in others ways too. I joined my husband in running half marathons, something he started doing while I was going through my treatments. I had never been a runner before, but enjoyed strength it gave me. I have run 3 half marathons, and a handful of smaller races. In 2013, I was training with my youngest daughter to run another half, but kept hurting my hip. I had to keep taking time off from running to heal. But every time I went back to running, my hip would give me bad pain again. At the same time, I was losing my appetite and getting very jaundice and itchy. I finally went to the doctor and after days of testing, scans and numerous doctors, looking at my case, I was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer (metastatic in a handful of places, including my hip) as well as PSC in my liver. I was told at that point that it was just a matter of time to see which diagnosis was going to take my life, the cancer or the PSC. I began weekly treatments that include suppression drug IV treatments. I've now past 60 consecutive weekly treatments. My liver remains constant currently and so the focus is on my cancer. As long as the suppression drugs hold the cancer, I have years to live and that might buy time for another treatment to come along. But if my cancer marker numbers begin to rise, I will then start chemo which unfortunately doesn't work well on metastatic breast cancer.
Chemo, the first time around was pretty rough. It felt like they were taking me right to death's door by my last treatment. Loosing my hair was not an issue, in fact I had a bit of fun with it. I dressed up like our school principal who was balding as well as wearing crazy hats that students would make for me when their classes accomplished goals.
I think the hardest part of being diagnosed with the cancer again, is having to give up running due to the impact to the cancer in my hip bones. The other hard part is that there isn't a cure for metastatic cancer. Eventually I will experience the real battle when it moves to vital organs.
The future. I hope to be able to live to see my children grow, serve, marry and give me lots of grandchildren to love and spoil. I want to grow old with my husband making lots of memories and serving along the way. But that is going to take faith and more research. Our family volunteers with the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. We serve on the committee for Cache County to help find the cause and the cure for cancer...all cancer, not just breast cancer. That's my future. It's my way to fight against this disease and not only win for me, but for all the those affected by cancer.
