[StephN]

I was trying to come to after my lumpectomy. Was having a hard time getting my blood pressure up and feeling nauseous from the anesthesia. They had to get a shot (epi) ordered to try and bring me out of it. Had to spend the night in the hospital (was not a "drive-through" day for me!) as blood pressure would not come up over 100 by 9 pm!

As I lay there trying to recover from the surgery drugs I had no idea what was in store for me. I was taking things one day (or week) at a time, trying to comprehend what I had to do just get through the initial phases of dealing with this very unexpected disease.

My surgeon came in and said something about clean margins and cancerous sentinal nodes. I could not tell if that was good news or not. Was I in some kind of weird dream?

So, now it is 9 years later and I still live my life in fairly short increments. My calendar still has medical appointments every month, and the cancer ball and chain is still firmly fixed to my ankle. Some days it feels lighter and easier to drag around and other days the weight is almost stagnating.

Just want to share that the days will fade into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months melt into years while daily life continues as best we can make it.

I thank and send praises to whatever entities allowed me to have and keep the faith in myself.