March 29

I have one day of radiation left and I couldn't be happier.
My "class" of radiation friends are already gone. I was the only one who had to take a break in the middle of treatment.

Because of that, I was able to meet a new patient in the new group yesterday.
She was around 40 and looked scared as hell. She told me that she was having a spot in her shoulder/back radiated and that because of the range of the lasers, she was having a hard time swallowing.

I'm nosy and I asked more questions. She said that 5 weeks ago, she was diagnosed with a mass in her back. It turns out that she had undiagnosed breast cancer, for who knows how long, and it had metastisized to her bones.
The only thing I could say was, "..so you're stage 4 already."
She nodded and told me that this last month has been a whirlwind.

The statistics show that her chances of being alive 5 years from now are a little less than 20%.

I cannot even imagine. I tried to reassure her that the statistics don't matter as much as your attitude. I hope she fights.

I am so grateful, once again, that I found my lump. This woman could have been me.
I'm so sad that this is happening to her and so many others.
I hate cancer so fucking much.

This is one of those times where I wish women were proactively offered mammograms at an earlier age. If she would have found her breast cancer a few years ago, her prognosis would be better.


On to happier things....
I'm off to appreciate the sun with my littles!