Four year anniversary

On Sunday, August 20, 2006 I celebrated four years of living with advanced breast cancer.

Talk about beating the odds! I have been stable on aromatase inhibitors with occasional bouts of radiation the entire time. NO CHEMO YET! My quality of life has been pretty good too. This seems incredible to me.

Highlights of the past 4 years --

- Broken bones are all healed and I can even dance on stage and sing in a choir.

- Travelled to Paris, Israel, Japan, Toronto and Palm Desert, as well as multiple family visits to NJ and Montreal.

- Got a dog, trained to be a service animal, and drag him everywhere.

- Bought our first house and just put in a new counter top, sink and faucet in the kitchen.

In retrospect, I have been very lucky in that my bone mets have responded well to treatment.

But --

- Mets cheated us completely out of children.

- Cancer forced me to retire from my career as a fundraiser at age 42.

- I went into full menopause at that ridiculously early age and quality of life suffers as a result.

Today I am alert, able and active. This isn't the life I thought I'd have, but it's the one I got and I intend to live it!