Last night I had a friend reach out to me about a new study for treating cancer that she heard on the radio. She was listening to Rick and Bubba (a very popular morning show here in Birmingham) which is ironic because I normally listen to them every morning but missed yesterday since I was home recovering. Without her reaching out to me, I would have missed out on this groundbreaking research. She told me where to find the information and I looked it up this morning. I have no idea if it is something that will help me, but I will definitely be forwarding it on to my doctor.
It got me thinking about how during the past three years of dealing with this disease, I have been GREATLY assisted by friends, the media, local news stories, co-workers and even the internet.
When I first went to have my mammogram, I was 38 years old. I have no family history of breast cancer and didn't have a spot that I was concerned about. I have fibrocystic breast disease (really lumpy breasts in laymans terms) so I never know what is a good lump or a bad lump. The whole idea of self examination went out the window for me years ago. So many times I would feel something, ask my doctor about it and he would tell me it was nothing. I just stopped the guessing game and left it up to my ob/gyn to figure out. But that December, my sister had a friend under 40 pass away from breast cancer, Giuliana Rancic (celebrity) was diagnosed with breast cancer and my friend's mother was moved under hospice do to her stage IV cancer.
I had one mammogram at 35 but decided with all I was hearing about, it wouldn't hurt to have another one. Like I've explained in previous blogs, I wasn't expecting to find anything. But without the stories of others struggles, I would never have gone that month. Alex was still sick a lot from his ears, so my health was definitely not on the radar. Therefore, I will always be grateful that God let me know about what these other women were dealing with. If not for them, I wouldn't have found my lump until much, much later.
When I was diagnosed from the first doctor, I really felt like she and I didn't have a very good connection. In my eyes she had a terrible bed side manner and I just couldn't imagine going down this path with her. I then got a second opinion and felt like that doctor was waaaaaay too layed back about it, like he wasn't taking it seriously enough. When I explained all this to a friend, she recommended the doctor that treated me for close to a year at Brookwood. Even though we got to a point that I needed to move on from her for further treatment, I am forever grateful to that friend for the recommendation because I truly had an ally in my fight.
Then there was the day that my husband heard the commercial for Cancer Treatment Center of America and told me about them. I had probably heard it myself a hundred times, but it just never registered in my brain. Going to them was definitely life saving and I can never thank them enough for all they did for me. The way they coordinated with UAB so I didn't have to travel to Atlanta all the time. The times they used Face Time for our "appointments", e-mailed me my lab results and had a case manager work with me every step of the way - priceless. They took the use of technology in my cancer fight to a whole new level.
I had another friend share with me about a drug trial her mother was on, a co-worker who learned about a different trial on his local news (that I actually was on for awhile), another friend who shared with me about different medications that helped her sister with nausea/fatigue. This list could go on and on and on.
The truth of the matter is that I would not be here today without all of these people helping us. Many years ago, it used to be that your health treatment plan was between you and your doctor alone. Now it has changed and you receive information from many different sources - at least I have. Of course, it's up to the individual to share these possible treatments with his/her doctor. But the doctor is just one person and he or she could always miss something.
Many a time I have said thank you for your prayers, love, support, your caring e-mails, texts and phone calls, the meals and help with Alex. But today I thank you for all the knowledge you have shared with me for this fight. So much of it I wouldn't have learned on my own. The old saying used to be "it takes a village to raise a child". Today I change it to: "it takes a village to fight cancer." Thank you to each of you that have been here during this fight. I am forever indebted to you.
Happy Friday!
