I am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in September 2014 and went through treatment until April 2015. This is a long post to play catch up to where I am at today. I've never blogged before so I'm not quite sure how this will unfold but I decided that it was time to put my story out there.
On September 12th (2015) I performed with Scarlet Thistle at the Huckleberry festival in Washington. I have admired Colette and the entire Scarlet Thistle troupe for some time and felt honored to be invited, along with 3 other women from our class, to dance with them. I had been feeling some pain in my chest off and on for about a month and it had gotten slightly worse the week before this performance. It was mainly when I would cough, sneeze, hiccup or when I would get up from laying down that it hurt and it wasn't interfering with my dance. That changed during the performance. The pain became excruciating and even taking a deep breath hurt. We finished the performance and once off stage I broke down and started to cry. The ladies in the group were incredibly kind and sympathetic. They made me laugh, hugged me offered to help me in any way I needed.
Early the next morning, September 13th, I went to the hospital because I just couldn't tolerate the pain. The doctor suspected a blood clot because of my history of radiation and he did a CT scan. He did not find a blood clot. He found a tumor in the lymph system behind my sternum. He suspected that it was a progression of my breast cancer. He sent me home with pain killers and said to follow up with my oncologist. I had driven to the hospital but I couldn't drive home with the meds I was on so Melanie, Bradly, Norah and Brian came to pick me up and Bradley drove my car back to my house. We spent the day together while I called my family, picked up prescriptions and processed what this meant.
The following week was all appointments and tests, which confirmed that my cancer had spread to distant (non-breast) lymph nodes. They started me on radiation treatments right away to try to shrink the tumor in my chest that was causing me so much pain. I officially took medical leave from work, which I didn't do through all of my previous chemo, radiation and surgery.
I decided to still go on a retreat my friends Sarah and Josue the next weekend and I am very glad that I did. The material in the program we went to was nourishing to my mind and spirit and it was comforting to have friends close.
On September 25th I had a delightful performance with the newly (any possibly impermanently) created troupe called Red Velvet Tribal organized by Margaret and including Kizzy and Cindy. It feels so good to still be able to dance, even if it is on pain meds.
On September 26th I started a belly dance intensive run by Rachel Brice called Cultivation. Rachel is a huge inspiration for me and my first workshop with her sparked a deeper passion for me in belly dance. When I took her first intensive in 2014 I went from being someone who took dance classes to identifying as a dancer. The community that she has cultivated is incredibly loving and supportive and I am delighted to be a part of it.
On September 28th I went in for my radiation treatment and saw my radiation oncologist. I had some changes to my nipple that were bothering me. The doctors had looked at it the previous week and didn't seem too worried but things were changing in the way it looked and the doctors now think that it might be cancerous. So, they upped my treatments to twice a day so that I can move on to the next treatment more quickly and I will be having a biopsy on Friday.
With a heavy heart I realized that I couldn't stay in Cultivation with the additional treatments, tests and doctor visits that are needed. I am hopefully that I will be able to participate in the next session. I opened my home to some dancers from out of town that are in the intensive so although I can't go to the classes I still feel the deepening of my ties to the community.
