Happy Birthday to me!

THanks for the birthday greetings posted yesterday--I did have a great birthday. After being diagnosed with BC on my 36th birthday, it is great to be here celebrating three years later--NED. Now, thanks to surgery, chemo, radiation and 52 weeks of Herceptin (clinical trial) I am doing fine and I am so looking forward to turning 40. It's funny how a cancer diagnosis can really make you appreciate turning older. My only lingering problem is I've gotten so good at living in the moment that I have a hard time making any plans for the future (saving for retirement, leasing a car for 5 years, etc.). I still don't buy clothes out of season for fear of tempting fate...Anyone else find a way to snap out of this? I am happy in the present but afraid to make plans/set goals for the future...thanks for any input!--Hugs to all, Audrey

It's very hard to learn how to live in the present...sounds like you've got a good handle on it. Why change...Keep enjoying your present moments!!

Glad you had a great day! Totally agree about getting older; can't wait. But, on the other hand, also like you, I too don't plan for the future. For example, I'll see great Christmas ideas, but won't buy them. Also that "fate tempting" thing. My husband will talk about what we'll do to the landscaping next year, and my attention fades out. I suppose we'll get better at this as time goes by.

Love and light,

Lisa

Audry, BIRTHDAY GREETINGS
You are one of Gods little Miracles, sent to go on a mission to save other woman like yourself. I have every confidence that you will be celebrating for a very long time. Medical technology has given us more hope than ever before. Herceptin is only one of many future targeted drugs that came by way of genetic research... there are alot to look forward to down the pipeline. It is a wonderful time to be living... Keep exercising and eat your vegetables and fruites...go easy on white sugars & white flour, instead increase your grains/fiber daily! Water and herbal, black, green teas are good for immune health. Hope this birthday you will gain strength and wisdom to keep you healthy for many more healthy years to come.
On your birthday,
have a piece of cake for me and one glass of red wine for you. Cheer!
As you may already know,
hormones play a significant role also and drugs are changing to inhibit ER/PR+. Ask your Onc.

Confident birthday hugs, Christine

Thanks, Christine, for your kind & encouraging words. Even though I'm NED and off treatment, this site still means and lot to me and is a place where we can all go and get information & support, or share our hopes, fears and dreams. I read this quote from a book called After Breast Cancer, by Hester Hill Schnipper, and I thought it was so lovely:

The new cancer friends you make are likely to be in a very special part of your heart. No one will understand what has happened to you like a woman who has also been through it. You will laugh and cry together in a communion that is only possible for soul mates. You will share each other's fears and joys as though they were your own and recognize a bond, forged in fire and pain, that glimmers now with hope.
--Audrey