The Beginning...

So here I go....the beginning of the chronicles that I call my life. Funny, I always wondered how people "blog" and never really thought that it was a free thing to do. Boy, was I ever wrong. Okay, so I know that most of you are wondering what the heck is a poop on a poopstick? Well, thanks to my good friend Lisa, it's a way of swearing without using any obscenities or offending anyone. Let me tell you, this phrase has been used quite a bit this past year when I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

My name is Sharla. I am 36 years old, a mother of a 3 year old, a loving wife of 6 years, & a cancer fighter. Last year, the day after Mother's Day, I was diagnosed with breast cancer - stage 3c to be exact. I was devastated when I received the news! I didn't understand how I could possibly have cancer when there was no history of it in my family. I was angry! What did I do to deserve this? I am too young! Just when it seemed like everything in my life was falling into place, it took a wrong turn.

I was tested for the BRCA gene which came back negative, had surgery in June 08 to remove my lump & lymph nodes (33 of them were removed, 17 were infected) & later found out in Aug 08 that I still had positive margins. I had 2 options - a mastectomy or start treatment asap. At the time, I was so concerned about saving the breast, so I opted to start treatment. I was also worried that if we waited any longer, the cancer would spread. So, we began chemo treatment on September 26, 2008. Chemo was every other Friday for a total of 4 months, 8 cycles & was supposed to end January 2, 2009. Well, chemo actually ended on April 10, 2009 because life doesn't always go as you plan it...about a week after the 4th chemo treatment, I came down with a fever & was told to take myself to the emergency room. The doctors at the ER didn't know what was wrong with me & thought that I had caught some kind of virus & put me on antibiotics. A couple of days later, my mom noticed that I looked a bit yellow & we later found out that due to my weakened immune system, I had a hepatitis B flare up. The chemo treatments were postponed until I fully recovered. So, I took a chemo break from November 21 - February 27. Looking back on things now, I kind of wish I didn't wait so long to restart chemo.

So, fast forward to today...where am I at now? I just recently had a mastectomy (June 29th to be exact) & was supposed to have a reconstruction done at the same time using my lattisimus muscle, but like I've said before, "life doesn't always go as you plan it," & instead the surgeons found a new tumor - this time in my armpit. They didn't remove it yet because they don't exactly know what they are dealing with & as I am told, there are "critical structures" in the armpit & if they remove too much I could lose the use of my arm. I just recently had a PET scan, results are on Monday & I have an MRI scheduled for the 22nd. The pathology results from the breast they removed came back showing that the breast still had some residual tumor in it. Which means to me that the chemo drugs didn't work & that we're dealing with a very aggressive kind of cancer. It's time to switch doctors!