And The Beat Goes On

It's amazing how cancer invades your life in more ways than one. First, the shock of the diagnosis. And then all of a sudden, a massive machinery of doctors and tests begins to crank up, and now I am Test Girl -- bone scan, blood draw, thoracic x-ray, breast MRI, lymph node ultrasound, yet another mammogram, CT scan, more breast biopsies, and injections. Doctors, nurses, nursing assistants, interns, appointment setters...and the list goes on. It's just mind-blowing.

Apparently I have stage III invasive ductal carcinoma. The only good thing is its estrogen and progesterone receptor positive and HER-2/neu negative. That means that the cancer should respond easily to hormone therapy. The plan (if nothing else has been cancerized) is for me to take chemo for 4-5 months before surgery to see if the tumor shrinks. I am also going to agree to be part of a clinical trial that apparently is having good results so far.

And into this drama comes news today that I have an official bid and contract (as soon as I sign on the dotted line) on my house, which has been up for sale for 13 months on a short sale basis. This would be fabulous news, except that I don't have a job and I'm not going to grad school this semester so no school loan. Sometimes you just have leave things up to God, so, God, this is all yours!

I see this an end to my old life and a gigantic push into a new life, the one I've always dreamed about. I intend to walk forward with love, peace, and faith.