Whats that on my face?

Soon after I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer a place came upon my face.

I thought it was just a skin tag.   

It looked like a skin tag,  and I thought nothing more about it until it would not go away.  I kept picking at it, pulling it, and so on thinking it want come back.

It came back and back and finally I decided it was time to see a specialist and have them take it off.

 I went to the dermatologist and was notified that it was skin cancer.

I have heard many other women in the support groups talk about the same thing happening to them.   

I would soon have surgery and they would dig deep in there and get it out.  They made sure they got it all but it was on my face right underneath my eye.

Which made me even more concerned.  It wasn't enough to have breast cancer but skin cancer also.  

The Physician that did the surgery was suppose to be really good at making sure he didn't leave a huge hole or scar on my face.  I do have a scar but not enough to really panick over.  It could have been worst if I had let it go.  Thankfully I didn't and I know to never pull or twist anything else that comes up on my body.   I learned from experience! 

It even came out on my arms.  One arm not as bad as the other.  Now every 6 months I have to go back and let them make sure its not returned.  The freezing of the sun cancer is the worst.  Its painful and looks horrible after it starts to heal.   It leaves ugly scars.  

I just wanted to throw this out there in case someone else has something growing that shouldn't be.  

Comments are always welcome 

A Biopsy and Big Girl Panties

After having the 3D Mammography they told me they would need to do a Ultrasound.  Which I was okay with, but I didn't know that they would soon want to do a Biopsy.  

I had never had a Biopsy before, so my nerves were on edge.  No, one was allowed to go back with me,  so hubby had to wait and wonder what was going on for the next hour or so.  

I was at a teaching hospital and well they want other physicians to learn,  the female physician that did my biopsy was wonderful and very compassionate. 

They ask me before they got started if it was okay to have a student physician watching the procedure.  I said yes,  but in my mind I wanted to say no. Of course he was male and young,  which embarrassed me to death.  I learned from that day forward half of Tennessee would soon be seeing the girls before this thing was over with. 

 I had to break them big girl panties out and suck it up! LOL

The procedure wasn't as bad as I had in my mind.  It wasn't easy and I am not gonna lie,  the numbing stuff does sting a little when they put that in your breast.  This physician told me she would keep numbing until I could feel nothing.  I felt nothing,  and the device used to place markers around the area where the mass was worst than the procedure itself.  The sound of that little machine made me think of a electric staple gun going off.  I would jump or tend to move a little when I heard the sound.  Which you aren't allowed to move.  It was a full time job for the nurse in there to keep me still on the table. 

They would soon have markers placed and a enough of the mass to send off for the biopsy.  Pressure was applied and I would soon be dressing applying a ice pack in the bra and out the door I went. 

Yes, I was a little uncomfortable the rest of the day,  but nothing major.  I think some Tylenol was good enough for the pain.  The next day I was sore and that was about the big of it.  







Comments and questions are always welcome. 

Pink Sister Club

As I began to write on this blog I am not sure what direction I want to go.  My journey is almost done. I have learned so much, and grew in a lot of ways I never thought possible. 

I want to leave this for my Daughter and Granddaughters to one day read and make sure that Breast Cancer or any kind of Cancer doesn't touch there life the way it touched mine. 

My best friend Mary, who helped me so much during this journey told me it was a healing blog if just for me to be able to move on and and enjoy my life.  So here's to you girl for pushing me to write about this "Season in my Life".  

No one wakes up one day and wants to become a Pink Sister.  Its not a group that we choose to be in,  its a group that we are in. There is a sisterhood there and only until you are one of us will you totally understand.  Us Pink Sisters just get each other,  and send hugs a million times a day to other Pink Sisters hurting from so many issues it leaves us with.

Someone once told me they hated Pink.  They hated all the things associated with it.  Really,  you are saying this to a Pink Sister.  Someone that has walked down this road and its lonely at times.  It will cause financial ruins, and leave you shaking your head many days or crying out to God begging to die.

It leaves us broken, and wondering why me?  Or with depression so bad you can't get out of bed for weeks.  Our bodies will never be the same. 

The Chemo alone is enough to kill you, and if that don't the Cancer left untreated will kill. I remember my own mother getting so mad at me for deciding to take the chemo.  She went as far as not speaking for awhile.

I think someone finally sit her down and explained to her, yes Lisa can not take the Chemo.  If she does decide to do it,  it will buy her time and possibly save her life.  Yes, God can heal and we are a family of God fearing people.  We believe in healing totally.  It doesn't mean her faith is weak, or she just decided to do it because she wanted to check it out.  

My Mother is in her mid 70's and has never been sick a day in her life,  so go figure she couldn't understand or comprehend.  Thankfully she finally came around after I started treatment and needed her many days to bring me something to help with my sickness.

So if you want to read what its like to walk the lonely road,  and become a Pink Sister then keep reading.  I am not gonna sugar coat it, I am going to tell you the way it is.  Its not pretty some days,  but I managed to stand most days and cry when no, one was looking.  

I also believe that an angel came and sit beside me before I went in the day to have my Double Mastectomy.  You will have to wait and read about it,  sometime later in my blog.  I have never had such peace like that day.

I also know I was being prayed for so much that I never did get really upset or nervous like most people.  There is power in prayer.  

Thanks for stopping by remember comments are always welcome. 

Questions are also.    

It's Only a Vein...

When I first realized something was wrong with one of my breast,  I didn't know what exactly it was.  I just woke up with a sore breast and nothing else.  I couldn't pinpoint the pain at first,  and even went onto work that day.   

I just knew I was sore in the right breast area toward the nipple.  It was painful and there was no bruises or anything to show me something was wrong.  

After work I kept feeling around and finally was able to find a small lump and had my hubby feel of it.  He agreed that the lump wasn't there before and that I needed to get to the doctor to see what it was.

At that current time we were seeing a Nurse Practitioner as our Primary Care Doctor and she was the best as we thought for many years. So I figured when I go in for routine blood work in a couple of days,  I will ask for a diagnosis mammogram. 

I went in for my blood work and ask as I was leaving about getting a script for a mammogram instead of waiting until my time in June. The Nurse Practitioner told me to step into a exam room and let her see what was going on.  She felt of the lump and told me "it was a vein and not to worry about it".  

Her words still ring loud and clear in my mind.  She knew my family history,  and she knew it was something that wasn't suppose to be there but she ignored it and put my life at risk.  Several weeks later I called her back and told her that I was concerned and wanted to get that mammogram and I wasn't taking "no" as an answer.  I would change physicians if she refused to give me the script I needed.  She laughed but she sent it to the facility I had chosen.  

Please always go with your gut feeling and never take "no" as an answer when it comes to you health or your body. 

You will hear that breast cancer isn't painful. I disagree with this cause I did have pain.  If not for the pain,  I might not have caught it and would have never known it was there.  Many other Pink Sisters in my support groups say they had some sort of painful breast area and thats how they discovered there Cancer also. 

Yes, I did yearly mammograms and was very faithful at getting them year after year.  Nothing was never found on the mammograms so a screening mammgram could have over looked the mass.   It was Stage 1 and was a mass that would be Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  Which is a common breast cancer that will spread if left untreated.  Thankfully the pain is why I caught it early.  

Had I not had the pain I would have never knew anything was there.  When the lump was first discovered it was small,  almost unnoticable and could have been over looked by me doing a self exam,  or a screening mammogram. I do believe it was meant for me to find it,  and to take care of it.  






Comments are always welcome!