2024 began like so many other years: tired “woo hoos” and fairwells at a friend’s house as we rang in the New Year and went to bed with hopes of many new resolutions and ideas of what would be “different this year”.

We never could have imagined how different this year would look, and I wish most of it was just a bad dream and we could wake up to the way things were before. Life before we had an empty seat at the dinner table at Mom’s, life before I had cancer. I do understand the sentiment (you learn quite a few after a cancer diagnosis) “there is life before cancer and life after cancer”.

On February 16th, 2024 took a turn for the one of the darkest and most painful years of our lives. The patriarch of our family, who never acted as a dominating male figure, but an equal and loving partner to our matriarch, my beautiful mama, left this life, and our hearts were shattered. During the sleepless nights leading up to the funeral, I was quietly logging into my patient portal and rescheduling a diagnostic mammogram that was scheduled for the same week. “This can wait, and besides, I am sure it’s nothing. I’ve had concerns before and they always turnout to be nothing,” I thought to myself.

In my previous post, I shared the story of my diagnosis and the early weeks and months of my journey through battling breast cancer. I’d like to share so many stories from this year: the hard and dark moments, the hilarious moments (yes, there is cancer humor), the beautiful and joyful ones. There is too much to share in one post so I will be periodically reflecting on specific aspects through various blog posts.

For this particular post, I want to SHOUT the GREAT NEWS that my doctors believe “they got all the cancer”!! May 1 – September 18, I went through 16 rounds of chemotherapy: three different types of chemo, along with all the ugly side effects these drugs bring, they understood the assignment and those chemo ninjas kicked cancer’s ass! They went in and demolished the entire tumor bed in my right breast, eliminated all cancer cells in my lymphnodes, and when surgery rolled around on October 16th, after a double mastectomy and three lymphnodes removed, the only spec of cancer left was a microscopic cluster (less than 1 mm) in a lymph vessel, which my surgeon removed. I had tons of clear margin all around. This type of response to chemo is not typical or normal for the specific type of breast cancer I had, per my oncologist. Amazing! I can’t help but credit God’s answer to my prayers and so many prayers being said on my behalf. Smashing the statistics and the norms in cancer treatment!!

This medical response and the pathology results made me eligible for a shorter trial of radiation than the normal standard of care. I signed up for the trial, not knowing if I would end up in the 16 day arm which is the current standard of care, or the 5 day hyper-fractionated arm, as it comes down to total randomization, like a coin flip. I was so ecstatic to find out I was randomized into the 5 day arm of radiation as it meant I would be able to finish these treatments before the end of the year. There were some delays and frustrations in the weeks between surgery and when radiation began, but I officially began my 5 day regiment of radiation on December 18, which is that final blow to knocking out cancer once in for all, ensuring any rogue cancer cell is eliminated for good, and I finished the final round, that throat punch to cancer, on December 26th. Words cannot accurately articulate the jubilation I felt ringing out the end of radiation as I knew I have all of the hardest milestones behind me, and I am leaving it in 2024. I have never been more ready for a New Year with new beginnings, than this coming year. Good-bye 2024, good-bye cancer, chemo, nausea, drain tubes, and hello 2025. I pray this year brings us a year of good health and healing.