Archive for March, 2010

We met with a plastic surgeon who was absolutely the utmost lovely lady.  Someone that specializes and only does post breast cancer surgery work.  Again, I cannot stress how wonderful my entire “breast cancer team”.  At each step along the way, the level of care and compassion has been outstanding.

We were immediate at ease as we went through the details of the surgery and options for reconstruction after my double mastectomy.    I could not help to exclaim “That’s great news” when I first heard that it’s a double procedure surgery.  So same day, the old breasts are removed and the new ones put into place.  Things like that are such “great news” when you had prepared your self for two surgeries, the time in between and two rounds of healing.  Great news that it’s all done in one day and I’ll just keep the recovery stages out of my mind for now.

What did we decide?  We’ve opted to go with saline implants and the same size that God gave me, albeit they’ll just look like a younger set.  As an aside, I do have to say the glimmer of humor in “Sue getting a boob job” has been a smile and laugh out loud for both the men and ladies…and at many points throughout the weeks! So, check the box, one more thing taken care of.

Because of my young age, a next step in the testing and screening was to see if genetically I was pre-disposed to this.  After a in depth counseling session, we understood that my DNA would be sequenced to find the presence of cancer markers and abnormal chromosomes.  This would have a tremendous impact on our family, and on a positive note, leave a wealth of health information for many generations to come.

Given the rushed schedule of events, my blood tests were put in a rush process.  The outcome of the testing would be a factor in my treatments in terms of chemo and radiation.

One week later, I found out that my genetic testing came back normal.  Which puts my back into a lower risk category for cancer to develop again.  Phew, one less thing to think about now! Back to the other 1,000,0000 things :)

Amongst the worst for me was the thought of telling my parents and Bruce’s parents.  No parent wants their child to endure such pain and agony.  However, I was in total control of the situation and it was time to share the news.  Bruce and I both delivered the news in a way that was fact based, controlling all emotions.  The situation, action and result was how the story went.  Never easy news, but each one has encouraging beautiful words and a supportive reaction.

We are so blessed to have such loving parents and families, and their support has never been anything short of amazing.  To both sets of Mom and Dad – We thank you for being there for us in good times, and in not so good times.   Rest assured, all will work out wonderfully in the end.  As parents, you will always worry, we know that…but there’s no need to worry.  I will be fine, we will all be fine and walk away with this behind us stronger from it! We love you all dearly and words cannot say thank you for everything now and over the years.

Business as usual continued and an invite to join an inspiring group of business owners had been on the calendar for weeks.  My business partner and I were happy to be part of the evening line up.  As  feelings of being overwhelmed continued to creep in,  I thought of how a night out in the city took priority over all the others things on my mind.  The event was a great time to catch up with some amazing people. 

 I departed the event on the early side to meet one of my most dear friends…and the chance to take her out on her birthday!  Bit of me felt selfish for taking her away from her husband and son on her birthday, but on the other hand, it was pretty much the only chance for she and I to catch up before my upcoming surgery and treatments.  Without a doubt, she picked a superb NYC restaurant that was out of this world.  After hours of “girl to girl” catch up and no question too personal to ask,  I felt on top of the world.   As things became more and more real for me, I will never forget sitting across the table from such a strong woman and could only still think “Life is Good”. 

After dinner, we threw caution to the wind and between raindrops made our way to a rooftop bar — all the sights of NYC and night skyline lights just breath taking.  We set the world straight and always with a chin up, we knew this nightcap would happen again, but the timing just TBD.

For nearly 10 years now, a lovely group of women has rotated homes to host the social wine circle once a month.  On March 24th, I enjoyed seeing many of the close friends at the gathering, but found it bitter sweet to know I wouldn’t be able to attend the next month’s get together.  We had our best theme yet…wine and fondue!  So a full table of cheese, chocolate and oils and every fondue accompaniment you could imagine. Heavenly and a scrumptious distraction for me;.

That night, as luck would have it, brought together many of the closest friends back to my childhood.  It was the first time I socialized as normal, knowing for sure it was indeed cancer.  The night had it’s laughter and great times, and even my fondue glass pot shattered with an explosive round of laughter…as I joked, “For My Next Trick…drum roll please”, we all laughed and in my heart I knew my next trick of explosive nature would be me beating cancer.  But I was not ready to share the news publicly yet.

I never wanted the news to be shared at events that were wonderful times.  So rather, I’d enjoy the event…and then have a quiet word privately or a follow up phone call to let people know.  We’ve had a number of great nights with close friends, where it became hard to even think I had to share such horrid news that would wreck the great mood.  That’s just not Sue Ennis!  But in time, I learned how to share the news and deliver a great positive message…and hope sharing my insights here help another in some capacity. 

You can still smile in the face of cancer and enjoy life to the fullest.  In fact, life has new meaning and each moment is so cherished with family and great friends!