The Other Side, There’s Light at the End of the Tunnel and it Ain’t the Train!

I walked into my Oncologist’s office for my routine 6 month appointment with a level of confidence I’ve never had (since I started going to her in 2014). I lost 2 survivor sisters in 2018, gained a new survivor sister (not a club you want your loved ones or anyone to join), and I have a survivor sister battling a recurrence. It was a tough year to say the least. I ended 2018 with having a Bilateral SalpingoOophorectomy (removal of both ovaries and fallopian tubes) with a total hysterectomy (uterus and cervix removed). Being BRCA1+ having had Triple Negative Breast Cancer sometimes feels like having a dark cloud overhead…like cancer is lurking in the shadows waiting to strike those vulnerable parts of me at the highest risk… Like that cloud is waiting to rain on my parade! NOT TODAY or any other day!!! Those parts of me were no longer serving me and had to go. I laid my burdens down on December 18, 2018 with that surgery which was also exploratory to confirm no evidence of cancer; it was also the 4th anniversary of my bilateral mastectomy.

So today I walked into that office feeling good and knowing I’m GOOD! No anxiety. No panic attacks. No crazy thoughts in the back of my head. I didn’t have to give myself a pep talk. I wasn’t dreading the appointment as I usually do. My doctor did everything she always does. What was different was ME!!! Today was the first time that I truly felt ON THE OTHER SIDE. I’ve had days that just felt like I would never be on the other side like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Not any more. I’m almost at the point where I only have to see my oncologist ONCE a year. I no longer have to have the MRI’s, the pelvic ultrasounds, pap smears, or endometrial biopsies. I was all smiles giving up my blood today, that’s pretty much the extent of what my appointments with my oncologist will be like now. THANK GOD! We knocked out 4 years and I’m living my best life. Another year to hit that milestone 5!

If I can do it so can you. No matter what you are going through, you can get to the other side! You can drill through the mountain, climb it, fly over it or command it to move… It’s up to you. Whatever you do, Fight Like a Grown Ass Woman!!!!!