Tag Archives: cancer

My Journey Through Thyroid Cancer

11 Apr

It all started with a sore throat.  I am a mom, a sales rep, and a singer and for months I struggled with a sore throat.  After a couple rounds of antibiotics, I sat in my car massaging my neck and found a lump. Less than a week later, I had gone to a doctor, done an ultrasound and biopsy, and was told I had thyroid cancer. Treatment was straight forward, remove the thyroid and drink I-131 radiation. After much research I discovered that thyroid cancer is one of the few cancers on the rise but also has a 97% survival rate.  By the end of the same month I was headed for surgery and confident about the results.

My journey took a turn there. Coming out of the surgery, I found out that my cancer was aggressive and that the nerve supplying my right vocal chord had been cut leaving my vocal chord permanently paralyzed. My surgeon told me I would never sing again and speaking and breathing would be strained, I couldn’t speak for months. It was an amazing trek after that. Over the next couple of years I had two more surgeries and endured aggressive external beam radiation which partially paralyzed my remaining left vocal chord.

Today, I am one year cancer free, talking, and miraculously beginning to sing again. I have learned many things:

  • Live passionately because life can change in an instant
  • Use your voice! Tell people you love them; stand up for what you believe in! Your voice and breathing is a MIRACLE!
  • Listen to your body and treat it well
  • Sometimes, God has a plan that is different from yours, just trust Him and go with it

Right now, I am wearing red lipstick, Bobbi Brown Burnt Red.  It’s a rich, creamy red which for me symbolizes my journey and how I want to live from now on, passionate, loving, and full of life!

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My Lipstick Journey Through Cancer

25 Mar

Hello!

I am a cancer survivor who loves lipstick.  I am 41 years old and New Year’s 2011 marks my first year (in the past three years), cancer free.  Lipstick for me has been an obsession since high school.  I was never allowed to wear make up, but I always had my Cherry Chapstick which added a hint of red.  In college, my best friend Jennifer ALWAYS wore bright pink lipstick no matter what.  I never knew how she could pull that off confidently.  After college, I got my first job.  Lipstick cost less than shoes…thus begins my lipstick journey.

I buy lipstick with any mood shift I have.  Obviously with my cancer diagnosis, three surgeries, radiation, etc…my mood shifts were extreme and changed daily.  I think over the three year period I have collected at least 30-50 tubes of lipstick and gloss.  I was laid off from my job last June (right after radiation), YSL Golden gloss #14.  I got another job right after, Laura Mercier Brown Plum.  I quit that job in December, not because I had so many great options, but because I was tired (I never let myself fully recover), and it was a job I could not see myself doing long term.  One thing with cancer is, you don’t want to waste time.  I bought Bobbi Brown Raisin (my favorite color and brand, by the way).

I’ve been interviewing sometimes two to three times a week for the past couple weeks for a new job and have been very self controlled in terms of my lipstick purchases. Today, I splurged. I got stressed about the job hunt because I carry the insurance for the family and my ultrasound/PET scan is coming up and it ain’t cheap.  Today I bought Dior 774.  What’s bad is that when I came home, I saw the same tube in my ever-growing lipstick collection.  Hate when that happens.  Anyway, tomorrow’s a new day!

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