Making Bracelets as a Survivor and Positive Updates!

As you know I started by Etsy shop ShoreSerenity. I am happy to say as a survivor I am honored to show case my Eternity Breast Cancer Bracelets. They are for supporters, us who have fought and for remembering those who have lost their battle. The link to them in my shop if you would like to purchase . http://www.etsy.com/listing/247731220

My shop link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShoreSerenity 

  I also have not given an update in a few weeks. I am now 5 weeks out from the revision of my reconstruction. Pretty much meaning I had a VERY painful lift!! It is as painful as the mastectomy. I had the drains back in for two weeks. Come on ladies how much do we LOVE those fantastic drains, that no matter how you try to hide the you look pregnant!!! Lol 

Now I have another surgery coming up, kinda nip and tuck if you will to even my girls out. I know they will never be “normal”, I just want them to me my normal. And the CHERRY on top nipples! YES, the big Nip is coming. I was only going to tattoo them on but the further out I get from the big C I want to reconstruct them. Dr is not thrilled because blood flow from radiated side might not be great but he said he won’t tell me no. I have to say my Plastic Surgeon is a Saint! He has the patience of one and just listens to your ideas.

Oh and I forgot to post, IM FOUR YEARS IN REMISSION THIS MONTH! Things are on the up swing for now!  

 

Beware…Creative Juices at work!

  
As I recover in my medical recliner from my recent reconstruction. ( and man is this one rough!) I still can’t pull myself up, open door or really stand for too long before the pain stars in. So I am revising my Etsy store to keep me sane, nothing like fixing pictures and titles to get my mind moving! Here is my address to my store, check it out and let me know how you like it! 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShoreSerenity

   
   

When you get lemons, make lemonade!!

By now you know who I am. Just a few short months ago to help with my anxiety I created my Etsy store ShoreSerenity. I just love, love the beach. To breath in the salty fresh air renews your soul. And the sand on your feels just as amazing. 

One day I thought to myself why not start making beachy jewlery and home decor from recycled items of course. I now carry bracelets, earrings, necklaces, wreaths of all kinda, beachy decor and items make of recycled cork.

When I’m in my zone doing this the world goes away and I feel free of what ails me! I am so proud of what I have done and want to share with others. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShoreSerenity
-thanks!!!

  
      

Update. Let the healing begin..,AGAIN!

  Here I am not able to sleep. Partially because of pain but mostly anxiety. Plus the dog curled up in my lap constantly does not help the hot flashes, but it’s ok I need the snuggling to get me through this. 

   Tomorrow I get to see my new breasts!! And maybe have a drain removed ( I hate them they are horribly sore) I really hope this was the last surgery, and believe me this one was a doozie!!! Constant pulling and pressure. 

The first day home was a huge struggle to get the pain meds right. The second day started running a fever, highest it went was 100.9, whew just missed going to Er. I have tendencies to run fevers after all my surgeries. I think it has something to do with my Lupus. Having a fever to go along with everything else was pretty unbareable. But I can see some cleavage!! At least there is cleavage at the end of this tunnel!🚂 

I’m just so uncomfertable with the two drains and not being able to lift my arms. My husband has been a fantastic caregiver as always, I don’t know if I could do it for someone else.

My son has also been a huge help, but you know 15yr olds busy with friends and work. Sadly to say this is “normal” for him lol. I do feel this entire cancer thing has made him a better person. I see a lot of compassion from him and he has a tendency to always help someone in need. ( plus he does his own  wash! Your welcome future wife! Just don’t meet him for like 13-14yrs from now I’m not quite ready to cut the apron strings 😁)

I’ll be back in a few days with an update of how my girls are going

Oh and don’t forget to check out my Etsy store!! http://www.etsy.com/store/ ShoreSerenity , sea glass jewelry, beachy decor , wine cork decor and  wreaths. If u mention my blog “chemobrainandmore”, you will receive 15% off any one item in my shop, good only until September 5th so hurry! One per customer please. 

 
 

Reconstructing the reconstruction, surgery time again tomorrow!

  

Well yes, it’s that time again we all love, preparing for surgery. Somehow I end up having one major surgery for each of the past five years! Now it finally time to fix up my girls! I’m now a pro at this by now!

It’s been a year and a half since my implants where put in. Things have settled and I’ve lost weight. My right side keeps contracting making my left side 3 sizes bigger. We are hoping with this revision it will help it not look so much bigger.

So this apparently is pretty painful… PLEASE! I’ve been down this road before I can handle it! They will be creating pockets on my chest wall and placing the implants in them to prevent them from being so moble. Let’s not forget I’m a large girl, my implants are 900cc, it take a village to hold my girls up lol. And let’s not forget the part we all love the most…the drains!! Yes for two weeks I will be battling these lovelys. Let the measuring begin!

So I’ve gone over my own list of ” mastectomy must haves”, knitting needle, dry shampoo, chair, good ol Poocharoo and of course the wonderful care from my husband rick. Everything seems to be set for 7:30am surgery tomorrow. 

Just trying to relax today an not worry about the three house surgery. I know I will wake up a new person, just in a little more pain then when I went to sleep.

Another major thing happening is, our deposit is down for our gestational carrier!! Hopefully by the time my twins are healed, we could actually be expect another set of twins, babies!! Positive thoughts for both out comes! 😁

Finally…reconstruction and nipples are here! HORRAY!!

Well, it’s finally here!! My consultation for my mastectomy reconstruction and nipple reconstruction is tomorrow. Yes, once again more surgery. At this point I’ve stopped counting lol. It’s been well over a year I had my implants placed, now it’s time to tune them up!

  
I approach this with joy, excitement and fear. Excitement to be “complete”, joy to be moving on with this and fear of the unknown. How will I look? Will I be happy? And of course how much will it hurt? All I know there is something in me that says now is the right time. I want to feel whole again. I know the fear of cancer will always linger  but finishing this process will help me have some closure to the cancer chapter in my life, and allow me to open a new chapter…life after cancer, being a survivor! 

 

So there is life after Cancer!!

Well here I am approximately almost 4 years in remission, and I finally feel like I’m moving on with my life. My husband and I are starting to embark on a new journey of surrogacy. I still have more reconstruction to be done before the birth, but we are jumping on that mommy and daddy wagon right now. Some how in my body I’ve got a biological clock, and it’s ticking. Yes! Amazingly enough a part of my body that has not  been remove! Lol

In between having my lumpectomy and my chemo treatment, I was smart enough to have my eggs harvested at age 36. I really feel that doctors nowadays need to inform younger women of their options about the fertility before going through treatment chemo. I only had a 8 week window to squeeze two cycles of IVF in. If I was informed sooner I might have done one before my lumpectomy and two after. I Was only able to harvest nine eggs which resulted in eight embryos. I had also found out during IVF I had polycystic ovarian syndrome, who the hell has this many diagnosis is in their life??? So it looked like Cancer or not,Ivf was in my future, but not necessarily a gestational carrier. Thanks Cancer for throwing that curve ball into the mix!

Now,I had mixed feelings about disclosing myself obtaining a gestational carrier for my embryo. Hopefully there are some people out there like me who can share their story. I was hesitant because a lot of people have made very nasty comments to me particularly about my age and having a baby. Or me being too ill ( I now have fibro and lupus,yay) Seriously??? Wtf?? At 40 I’m too old? Believe me I didn’t choose to get cancer at 36, nor would I wish this on anyone else. I think 40 is the new 30, and to all those who have nasty opinions… What’s the saying? Opinions are like A-holes everone has one?? Or I prefer the golden rule, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all! I beat cancer, I CAN raise a child. My son is already 15 yrs old and I did it while fighting cancer. That should tell you I am one strong woman.

And what about Juliana Ransik, anyone make nasty comments to her? She didn’t have chemo or a hysterectomy, but because she’s famous it’s ok?
Ok, enough about my rant lol. I’m excited for my family to hopefully be growing. It’s a long process, lots of paperwork, lots of patience and lots of money. I guess it’s going to be kinda like Match.com for a uterus!! I just pray my husband will be blessed with a child of our own, or twins if we are even more lucky!( not to be greedy, but been through hell n back I think that’s ok to be lol).

I really don’t know what to expect on this journey. I know there will be ups and downs. And the big one, no guarantee this will work, but we won’t know until we try. Hopefully this time next year I will be writing about what to expect, when your expecting someone else carrying your child 🙂 

 

Hi there! I’m back and here’s what I’ve been up to

                                        



So I know I have not posted in quite some time. So Here are things in the past few months in a nut she’ll.

I returned back to work to in May to my normal routine. It was extremely hard because of the chemo brain trying to remember everything which I’m sure others can relate to. Unfortunately in October I thought I had a really bad stomach virus and went to the emergency room I was misdiagnosed with a neoplasm in my liver and was completely freaked out that the cancer had metastasized. The next day I went to my oncologist and by the time I got there I was in liver failure and returned back to the emergency room and low and behold I had gallstones and pancreatitis! Seriously you can’t make this crap up!! The pancreatitis was so bad I was admitted to the hospital for seven days and ended up having my gallbladder removed. So that was a lot of fun because it was my son’s first homecoming and unfortunately I had to miss that milestone. Btw being admitted that long is enough to make you nuts! I was lucky enough for three days to have the room to myself. Plus I had a fan and febreeze with me to make it more tolerable. You know me I’m always looking for a way to make to crappy stuff a little more easy to deal with.





Then next, I had my six-month infusion. That was a treat as always, however it was made worse by my new diagnosis of Lupis. Yes, another wonderful aliment that I have been blessed with. Thanks to my surgical oncologist who recommended me going to a rheumatologist because of my PTSD ,anxiety ,skin disorders and allergies she  pinpointed that it might be something other then a coincidence I had all these issues. So after going through all the testing with the rheumatologist I was also diagnosed with Epstein- Barr . I’m glad I have these diagnosis is now because I am absolutely exhausted all the time and I couldn’t figure out why.( so to everyone who thought I was lazy, haha your wrong).

And last but not least looking towards the future I’m starting to begin planning my next reconstruction surgery. It’s been a year since I’ve had my implants put in and I truly feel like it’s time to close the door in this chapter. I’m starting to feel somewhat incomplete by the way I look. I’m just worried about the anesthesia and going through the pain of not being able to be mobile for a few weeks. Not that I’m not saying having my breasts perfect makes me a complete person, but I’m just reminded every single time I look in the mirror of what I’ve been through the past four years of my life. Truthfully I’m just really over cancer. And plus I finally get to get my tattoos of the cherry and strawberry for my nipples! LOL

The other thing that I’ve been up to is I open my own Etsy store to help with my anxiety. I usually do my crafting late at night when I can’t sleep ,I find it extremely calming. Personally when I was going through my chemo treatment or anytime now that I am really anxious, my husband takes me for a ride down by the beach. So I figured why not start a little Etsy store with my crafts that I do with sea glass, shells,  jewelry and wreaths. Plus who can’t use a little extra money for the medical bills! If you would like to check out my store here is the link, I hope you enjoy it. I called it ShoreSerenity.

http://www.etsy.com/assets/js/etsy_mini_shop.js’></script><script type=’text/javascript’>new Etsy.Mini(10720216,’gallery’,4,3,0,’https://www.etsy.com&#8217;);</script>

If the link does not work go to Etsy and put in ShoreSerenity to vist my store!

I hope you enjoy!





Fibro, Fog and Fatigue

Great information!

Natural Awakenings - Healthy Living Healthy Planet

Dr. Farhan Tahir Empowers Sufferers to Reclaim Their Vitality

by Michelle Bense

As Pennsylvania’s only rheumatologist who is certified in American Board of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology and Integrative Holistic Medicine, Dr. Farhan Tahir, M.D., believes in the use of integrative approaches to reduce dependence on medications. The Founder and Medical Director of Rheumatology Care Consultants, in Yardley, Tahir works extensively with patients struggling with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia syndrome, among many others. In his work with such patients, he has developed an effective, integrative treatment method.

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Brittany Manynard, it takes a strong person to do what she’s doin!

Of course all of us who have or had cancer have thought about death.

Hearing about Brittany Meynard story of course hits very close to home. Only being 29 and being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and being given the opportunity to choose the day that she dies, to me makes her one of the strongest people I have ever seen.

Now, some people say that it’s being selfish choosing to take your own life in that manner. People in our position ,and given that there is a choice it’s not being selfish! Its actually being generous to the family and friends that you love. It gives them the opportunity to say goodbye and with dignity.

I feel like the people who are against this just don’t get the pain and suffering that people who have cancer go through. ( and other terminal diseases). And not to mention the financial cost that it brings to the family. For the past four years all I’ve been doing is dealing with surgeries scans, infusions, medications. Also not being able to work and having to be on disability really put you in a financial predicament,even though you do have insurance, the disability does not pay much.

Of course this is brought about the thought of my own mortality. ( not that I have not thought about it several times over the past 3years). But it is alwaysin the back if my mind what if the cancer comes back again, what would I do? What would you do? I mean going to chemo was pure hell, radiation was not much better, the multiple biopsies, the mastectomy tme and now several surgeries following my mastectomy, has all been so trying on myself and my family. So, if some reason I was in her position and I was given that short amount of time knowing how painful this would be, I would do the exact same thing she is doing.

So to you Brittney,I say bravo because you are taking control of this disease, youare choosing when it is your time to go and youhave that right to die in the matter that you see fitting.

Brittany I hope somehow you find comfort in knowing what lies ahead and that your family is excepting of your choice. I hope that all the attention on this brings light to end of life issues. Because unless you have had a deadly disease or have a love one who does, you just don’t understand fully what this is all about.