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My Experience with Cancer

I was diagnosed with rectal cancer on Good Friday 2008. It started with a backache the summer before. After the backache didn’t seem to let up after a month, I went to Urgent care and was told I had a pulled muscle. Treatment prescibed heating pads and rest. Didn’t help. Then in October of 2007 I became severly constipated. A few days later I passed my first bloody stool. Still wasn’t majorly concerned. In December I became very concerned (especially because the bright red blood that I was passing, and it wasn’t just a little.) Went to a doctor who proceeded to blow off my symptoms and told me I had a slipped disk and sent me to physical therapy. It was a month and a half after seeing this doctor before I finally got someone to take my symptoms seriously. By the time I fianlly was referred for a colonoscopy the tumor was so huge that the doctor was unable to get the scope completely past the tumor for a complete scan. Radiation and chemo followed. For six weeks I underwent daily radiation and chemo therapy treatments with the hope that they could shrink the tumor before surgery. Surgery was done on July 17th and the tumor was still quite large. This is when the surgical team and the oncologists realized that I was stage 3 rectal cancer. I followed surgery with another 8 weeks of chemo over a 16 week period. I was finally declared in remission Feb 8th of this year. Sad thing is, I went back to the original doctor after my diagnosis and he actually had the gall to tell me he would not have done anything differently because of my age. I never would have made it through this without the wonderful support system that God provided me with both personal and professional.

Hobbies

Spending time with my family. Reading. Going out for motorcycle rides with my husband and photography.

Books

I read almost anything.

Music

I enjoy a wide range of music as well. Favorite bands include Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, Bad Company and thanks to my son Shinedown.

Movies

I have a fairly decent DVD collection. Well over a 1000 movies ranging from Disney/Pixar to horror. Comedy and action films thrown in for good measure. My all time favorite movie is a toss up between Gone With the Wind and Dirty Dancing.(yup I own both). New movies that I have seen in the past year include Marley and Me, He’s Just Not That Into You, Hairspray, and a few others.

My Kind of People

Those that are real. Dislike phonies.

Reason for Being Here

Saw the link on Twitter and just thought I would check it out.

Words of Wisdom

I know God won’t give me more than I can handle, I just wish He didn’t trust me so much. (Mother Theresa)
Face the day with Positivity, as often as you can. Every one has bad days,trick is not letting the bad days get the best of you. (me)

Know Me

I am married to a wonderful man who has been my rock especially over the past year and a half. We just celebrated our 28th anniversary (may 2nd) by renewing our vows. We have 4 adult children and 4 grandchildren, and with the Grace of God I will be around to see them all grow up.