Wouldn't it be nice to forget a cancer diagnosis?
BY BONNIE ANNIS
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 29, 2018
Bonnie Annis is a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed in 2014 with stage 2b invasive ductal carcinoma with metastasis to the lymph nodes. She is an avid photographer, freelance writer/blogger, wife, mother and grandmother.
Sometimes I think I'm unrealistic and perhaps living in La La Land. It's been just a little over four years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and lately I've been feeling like I'm home free. My five-year cancerversary is just around the corner and reaching that magic number feels almost too good to be true. While I'd like to think I'll make it to my fifth year without a recurrence of cancer, I have to be realistic. The possibility of my cancer returning is very real.
My diagnosis was invasive ductal carcinoma, a very common form of breast cancer. According to my Oncotype DX score, the cancer was fed at a rate of 99 percent by both estrogen and progesterone. At the time of my initial surgery, it had already traveled outside my breast into my lymph nodes. That meant the breast surgeon had to do additional surgery to try to remove all of the cancer cells from my body.
Only once or twice since being diagnosed have I given thought to the possibility that cancer cells were roaming around in my body. Most recently this thought crossed my mind after taking a hard fall. When the radiologist seemed concerned about a dark shadow on my films and asked me to tell him about my cancer, I got nervous. It's been several weeks since that injury and I've begun to heal, so I feel I dodged a bullet. That shadow must have been something else.
My diagnosis was invasive ductal carcinoma, a very common form of breast cancer. According to my Oncotype DX score, the cancer was fed at a rate of 99 percent by both estrogen and progesterone. At the time of my initial surgery, it had already traveled outside my breast into my lymph nodes. That meant the breast surgeon had to do additional surgery to try to remove all of the cancer cells from my body.
Only once or twice since being diagnosed have I given thought to the possibility that cancer cells were roaming around in my body. Most recently this thought crossed my mind after taking a hard fall. When the radiologist seemed concerned about a dark shadow on my films and asked me to tell him about my cancer, I got nervous. It's been several weeks since that injury and I've begun to heal, so I feel I dodged a bullet. That shadow must have been something else.
