Member blog
Almost there...
Hi All
I can't believe its been two weeks since I last posted! Goes to show you how busy life can get....
Surgery Date
I have my surgery date. The surgeon called this afternoon to say I'm booked in on Friday 4th March to have my left breast removed.....
More surgery required....
Urgh...saw the surgeon yesterday and I need more surgery. The MRI found 13 cysts in various locations in the left breast and 3 of those cysts are what's called 'complicated' cysts. The surgeon said to remove them all would leave me with no breast tissue and because of my previous breast cancer, my strong family history, my age (44) and dense breasts, I'm a prime candidate for a re-occurence of the cancer in the remaining breast.
Officially "retired" - sort of
I wanted to let those who have sent a response to my partial invalidity retirement posts know that Comsuper finally came through with the approval for partial retirement ( I can still work 8 hours a week - four hours across 2 days) for me.
Fight for yourself -if you don't, no one else will
So the breast cancer battle rages on....and I'm gearing up for round two.
The "Down" Side of Cancer
I had a bad weekend last week. I've been undergoing the process of partial invalidity retirement through work because of the fall out of my breast cancer diagnosis last year. I ended up with a thyroid that doesn't work, high blood pressure that is hard to control, underwent sudden menopause, osteoporosis due the hormone treatment, and on top of all that - depression.
Reminders
I found out this week that a dear friend (I've known since my high school days) has been diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer and needs to have a bilateral mastectomy with chemo starting straight away (it's gone into her blood stream). My heart hurt for her so much - she's 10,000 miles away and the only way I can show support is to telephone her and email her. She's had lots of question - things she's either too afraid to ask the doctors about or can't ask anyone else because they haven't gone through this process.
One Year Anniversary Update
I wanted to say a big thank you to those who wished me well with regard to my one year anniversary tests last week. I got the results back today and all is GOOD. No signs of cancer anywhere. I was relieved and sent a silent "thank you" to God when I got in the car after reading the results. I don't mind saying that I was nervous and not sleeping well up until I got the results back. It's hard to believe that the years to come will be a similar sort of thing, although I sincerely hope that as the years roll on, I will get more and more relaxed about it:)
Work Wise...
I started the process of applying for partial invalidity through my superannuation fund today. Before breast cancer, I worked full time in a high profile government agency as a senior HR manager. It took a lot of energy and time to complete my university degree so that I could make the leap into higher level management.
One Year Anniversary
One more thing - I would appreciate happy thoughts and prayers on Friday 29 October. My one year anniversary is coming up (17 Nov) and I'm due to have all my follow up tests and scans Friday afternoon.
I'm nervous (to be expected) and quite frankly, losing some sleep at night because of it. BUT, I remain positive and absolutely know that God never gives us anything we can't handle (sometimes feels like we can't but we find a strength we didn't know we had).
