Skip to main content

"You will beat this, and we're going to help you!"

  Hello my beautiful friend,

    In my opinion, one of the most important things a cancer patient can have is complete trust in their care team. These are the healthcare professionals that will be guiding you on your journey, and you want to be able to have confidence that they will lead you to the finish line. 

    When I found my lump, I called my gynecologist's office to get it checked out. Dr. Thompson is a physician who not only cares for his patients, but deeply respects his patients' choices and wishes. He sent me for a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, which led to a biopsy, and then my diagnosis. When the nurse at the at the breast center called me with my results, she said my gynecologist frequently worked with a specific breast surgeon. What a blessing Dr. Frame turned out to be. He was so kind and patient, extremely knowledgeable and wanted to make sure I understood the nature of my diagnosis. Find a surgeon like that, someone you can trust, and who genuinely has your best interest at heart.

    After considering the size of my tumor, and the type of cancer I had, Dr. Frame recommended that I have a lumpectomy. There were a few people who didn’t understand why I didn’t just have a double mastectomy and "be safe", and you know what, that’s okay. It’s okay that others don’t understand why you choose a specific treatment. I trusted my doctor, and if he thought a less drastic treatment plan was in my best interest than I was comfortable with that. If you trust your doctor, and you are comfortable with the treatment he is recommending, that’s all that matters, and even if people mean well, they don’t have to deal with the consequences of your decision. So, don’t let people pressure into one type of treatment or another. 

    At my post op, Dr. Frame said that out of the 5 lymph nodes biopsied, 3 were positive for cancer cells, and he wanted to refer me to a medical oncologist. I don't really remember everything he said, because that wasn't the news I was hoping to get, and I went a little numb, and everything sounded like I was under water; but when he said the name of the oncologist he works with, Dr. Cole, I was snapped back to reality. You see, Dr. Cole’s wife is one of the owners of the company I work for. So while I hadn’t met Dr. Cole personally, I had heard of him for years. I had heard he was a VERY good doctor who cared deeply about his patients and took extraordinary care of them. Even if some would consider that a very small and insignificant coincidence, to me, I felt that Jehovah took my hand in His, and was telling me, “See, you know who that is, it’s going to be okay! I am with you and I am taking care of you! So don’t worry, you are going to be just fine.”   Looking back, I can see Jehovah’s love and direction in that situation. He constantly reminded me I was never alone in my fight. I don’t think my referral to Dr. Cole was a coincidence at all, I really think it was Jehovah’s doing.

I am so grateful that I have such an incredible care team. They are people that you will be seeing for years so it’s important for you to develop a good relationship with them. Never be afraid to ask questions, even the same one multiple times, because it’s important that you understand your diagnosis and treatment plan. Keep fighting my friend!!!! I am rooting for you!!! 

 

Much love,

Laryssa

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Change can be a good thing!!

  Hello my beautiful friend,                   Sometimes when we get a diagnosis of cancer, we may feel like our lives are over. After going through chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and suffering the aftereffects of those treatments, we may feel that our lives are no longer our own. That we are a shadow of what we used to be. Despite my own struggles in coming to terms with my “new normal”, I choose to turn them into a positive. I allowed those experiences to refine me, not define me. Having gone through those experiences have allowed me to pinpoint exactly what I want out of life and given me the courage to pursue new opportunities that I wouldn’t have dared to dream for myself.                                 Recently, I have gone through a season of change. I decided to pursue continued education with the goal of being able to work fro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Babe, what’s this?

Hello my beautiful friend,       So, this story is a little embarrassing for me to tell because it’s the story of how I found my lump and how long it took for me to get it checked out. I am hoping my story will help others in my situation make a different decision.     I found my lump in June of 2019. I'm not sure what led me to do a breast exam. I was young, no history of breast cancer in my family, but nonetheless, I did and found a lump. I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was just a stupid little cyst and went on with my life. As time went on, it stayed there, and I did a little research and found that women who undergo hormonal changes may get little cysts in their breasts. I had a hysterectomy in April of 2019 and have dealt with endometriosis and PCOS most of my life, so issues with my hormones was not new to me. I thought that was the reason I had a lump; nothing for me to worry about.     My husband found my lump in Oct...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don't beat yourself up!

 Hello my beautiful friend,    I am so sorry I have been MIA for so long. It’s been a very busy couple of months, but I am excited to get back to sharing my story.   You know the saying, "Comparison is the thief of joy?", its a cliché, but its true. This is something I am currently struggling with. While on treatment I compared myself to friends who had fought cancer before me who I felt did so much better than me. They were able to continue their routines without missing a beat. Meanwhile I was doing well to get out of bed in the mornings and I became very discouraged because of what I felt was a failure on my part.  Now that I am 6 months post all of my chemotherapy and radiation treatments I feel some resentment that I am not bouncing back quickly. I get angry that I still feel fatigue, that my weight loss journey isn’t going the way I want, and that I don’t handle stress as well as I used to. There are days where I feel like a shadow of myself and that ...
Post a Comment
Read more