Today is Lance Armstrong's 10 yr anniversary

[micheleu]

This day has meant alot to me. I got an email this is Lance's 10yr anniversary. All of us cancer survivors should look at this as Hope. I've had a rough month. some of you know what i'm going through with my marriage. I keep hearing people telling me "you need to think of your family always first and start giving up things" I'm sorry. I need to be happy too. I told them when THEY get cancer THEN they can tell me to stop living this way. We all as survivor's understand this dilema. I AM a good mom. I don't have affairs. I take pride in my new self. I will not and ever let someone tell me i'm a bad mom. I love my kids to death. A month before i was dx i had a thought from God. He was asking me "would you die for your kids" I told him YES. Then i got cancer. I knew then what he was asking. I love life. I have my 100 things i want to do before dying, like all of us do. I'm sorry if on the outside it looks like selfiousness. Please tell me if i'm wrong. No one that has cancer has told me i'm wrong. I feel like my husband is sucking my soul away. I would love anyone's take on this. I think this is a very open disscussion about cancer survivors. I'm sure alot of people are sick of us waving our Pink flags. Only when i got cancer i feel like i'm a part of something. I remember before cancer having the desire to find my "roots" so i would feel a part of something. Maybe if i was Irish i could celebrate St Patricks day with pride. Maybe if i was part Native American, i could finally feel a part of a tribe. When i was dx with breast cancer i finally felt like I belonged somewhere. I finally fit somewhere. I wear Pink proudly. I tell everyone i meet, I have breast cancer, because i'm proud of what cancer has done to me. I will survive because i will LiveSTRONG everyday. I now what Lance Armstrong's LiveSTRONG campaign means.

[RhondaH]

I TOO feel like I "finally" belong somewhere (and am ESPECIALLY proud of the HER2 Support group) and wear my pink w/ pride. I'm sorry, but I'm going to be perfectly blunt...regarding the statement "I feel like my husband is sucking my soul away", it's time to get out. My mom told me that a person needs to be with someone who ADDS to their life, not takes away from it...SO true. I strongly believe you love your kids and your husband is a @#$^&* (sorry for being so honest:) WE love ya and so do many others. Here's huggs for you. Take care and God bless.

Rhonda

[Sherryg683]

I love you gals but I hate to say, this is a group that I'd rather NOT belong to. I'm just being honest. I hear a lot of people say how having cancer actually turned out to be a good thing and that it showed them to value each day, blah, blah , blah. I cannot say that being diagnosed stage IV at age 44, with a young child has brought me any good in my life..I hate this disease and hate that I have it and I hate seeing so many of our young mothers die from this disease. Now, that being said, I am trying to live with it the best I can and have become a kinder, more spiritual person. I do think that I needed something to open up my eyes and make me appreciate what I had, I just wish it could have been something a little less severe. like a broken leg or something .I would have even settled for stage I or II (although that sucks too), ...stage IV has just been a hard pill for me to swallow...sherryg

[micheleu]

I agree Sherry, it's not a group we "chose" to be in. Yes, cancer SUCKS, but it has opened my eyes to the world. If i do die from cancer, not old age, I will look back and say that cancer has changed my life. It's not fair, but it's what God has chosen for me. I know it's hard for all to accept this. I know that if this cancer spreads i will curse it. But no matter what happens cancer did open my eyes.

[chrisy]

Sherry,
me too! It's great to have this place and this "family", but I'd rather be in france. it definitely sucks. maybe we could go for being in the club of StageIV who totally blast the odds. I'd settle for that;)

If it's good enough for Lance...hey maybe all that time in france is the key!

much love
Chris

[lucky4x]

Hahaha.... I would rather be in France!

I would rather be anywhere else than on a breast cancer support group ( because it means I am a victim of breast cancer). Yes, a proud survivor, but a victim just the same.

Ya, France sounds nice...but just give me the changing leaves and a cabin in the woods away from hubby ( and his moods) and have the kids come visit at least 4 times a week! LOL

But seriously, cancer has changed me...I look at life with eyes wide open and drink in all it's beauty! I also wonder how to get more time to enjoy it all.

[MCS]

Michelle,


all I will do for you right now is to send lots and lots of hugs for you so you know well that I am with you even though I'm not there.

we are all here for you.

XOXOXO

MCS ( maria)

[tousled1]

Michelle,

I feel your pain. I never wanted to be a member of a breast cancer group but here I am. It's not what I wanted out of life but I sure as hell can't change it. All I can do right now is fight this dreadful disease with all my might. By the way, I'm Irish and I don't celebrate St. Patricks Day. Actually, in Ireland it's a Holy Day. Only in America is it so celebrated. When I lived in Ireland my nephew who was in college and a friend of his came to visit me for St. Patricks Day. They thought that would be the best place to celebrate. Boy, were they shocked! I made sure they weren't disappointed as I had been living there for 3 years and knew all the "good" places to go. I took them out and they had a blast but came back with a different view of celebrating St. Patrick's Day. We all have to hang is this thing together. This is where we can come and vent, scream, cry, whatever - get it out of our system for a while. We are the ones that live with a daily reminder that we have cancer and that our lives have drastically changed due to it.