Mon Dessein

Finally no more poking! Or that is what we thought… I haven't written a blog since my first chemo as it has been such a long journey, I couldn't find the time nor the energy to do so. Now the chemo is behind me, I can start processing what happened over the last 6 months, taking a bit of time to reflect on how challenging and painful this process has been for me and my family. I was not really motivated for chemo session number 3 and that lack of motivation and negative headspace came back like a smack in the face when the nurse failed to find a vein which was extremely painful. The cold cap that they used was not the correct size and was not fitting correctly causing immense pain on the skull. I was already trying to focus on getting through the freezing sensation, so adding physical pain was not a great help. The third chemo session just felt hard. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Let's just say I was not feeling the best coming out of that one.  I put on a very brave...

English Version   Chemo treatment day #1 arrived without much fanfare, even though there has been a lot of planning, researching and talking about it. Whilst waiting for the Oncologist, I was experiencing the full range of emotions and  I felt like breaking down when I finally saw her. She was, as always, dry and to the point which kept it practical for us. The check in was simple: she ran through the one page of chemo drugs I would be receiving and then ran through the seven pages of potential side effects, always reiterating that it's different for every single patient.   From there, we went to the “Ivy suite” before moving through to the treatment room. Here, there were lots of big comfy chairs separated by curtains that couldn't really close or give you privacy. The curtains were drawn so no natural light came in and it felt like an elderly care Hospital as most people were at least a generation older than me. Once I was on the chair, they made me as comfortable as po...

What a roller coaster the last few months have been. As you know, the public hospital chemo treatment plan was very intense and long. After seeing the public hospital treatment rooms, we decided to have it in a private hospital. We assumed the treatment plan will be very similar with the surroundings being more comfortable (I can come with someone, they provide biscuits and tea, less crowded, natural light...). However, the new oncologist was very upfront with us and suggested that because of the surgery outcome and the size of the cancer, the treatment plan should be drastically reduced for 12 weeks total (4 cycles every 3 weeks). What??? Why not the bazooka again? Isn't it the safest for me? I got confused again. For her, since my tumor was small and taken out early and since my lymph nodes were all clear, it was more damaging to undergo the bazooka chemo (called red Devil by the way 😣) and safe enough to follow this shorter chemo. If this will have been proposed in the 1st plac...

https://breastfriends.raisely.com/sandra-giry Hey guys I am raising funds for breast cancer care WA. They have been super supportive throughout my journey beating breast cancer. Any donation is welcome and goes a long way to help women and families.

ENGLISH version Round 2  With the great news of being cancer free post surgery, I had hope that maybe I won't need chemo after all or maybe a small/lighter one. So that was a massive shock when the oncologist recommended the heaviest and longest chemo as the next phase of the treatment. Why should I undergo such a treatment if I'm cancer free?  Because if there are any cancer cells travelling in my body now, the chemo will kill them. Maybe there isn't but if there is, they will multiply and when I will have a second cancer then it won't be curable. So I will start mid September or so and it will last about 6 months. The drugs provided are hardcore and the cycles I will undergo won't give me any break.  The first 8 weeks, I will have chemo every 2 weeks and then it will be every week. Apparently the 1st week of the cycle you are not feeling good, the 2nd you start to feel better and you are back to "normal" the 3rd week. So in a nutshell, I won't feel g...

15th August 2024 It has been a joy to be home since Saturday the 11th of August with no drains. The days have passed in a blur of cuddles routine and a bit of domestic bliss. All dabbed with rest and relaxing, where and when possible. I really enjoy normality like walking kids to school every morning. Thursday the 15th of August was my checkup post surgery meeting and I was a little torn. Part of me wanted to know how the surgery recovery is going and even more what are the pathological results (has my cancer spread or not?). Another part of me was ignorance is bliss and to not think about the potential next steps (Chemo/radiation). But it is a massive WIN, I'm cancer free!!!!! Not only the surgeon is amazed by her work (to be honest, she did an incredibly good job), and my healing is going very well, but the pathological results are great too. It showed only one cancerous tumour instead of 3, much smaller than expected and the most important is that it hasn't spread. The biops...

English Version  Just as I was starting to settle in to the routine at home, tuesday night brought a lot of pain in the breast. An issue with the drain which made it impossible to sleep during the night.  When the home care nurse visited me on Wednesday, she called my surgeon who asked me to come asap to the hospital to check. After a quick review, it was decided that I'd be re-admitted to hospital to have antibiotics delivered by an IV drip.  So I got brought to a ward in a four beds room only separated by a curtain. Let's just say that the mix of people in this room was confronting to all my senses and going back to hospital that unexpectedly, really hit me hard. On Thursday morning at 6:00 a.m. the surgeon came by and ask me to fast until they know which of these three potential scenarios I would have to follow: Back to the operating theatre to clean the infection  Stay in hospital for few more days to get more antibiotics via IV  Return home quickly with the...

                                                                                  English Version The few hours post surgery were an absolute blur. I know I woke up and felt a massive wave of relief flood through me. However, the anaesthetics kept me in a fog. I was transferred to the ward where I was awoken by Steve who had arrived an hour earlier. It was a shared room but that was totally fine. I had my headphones, my music, my photos, and my videos to keep me busy. Steve and I enjoyed a nice homemade meal and ensure that everything was within reach so I could have a great night of recovery. The nurse came by regularly with drugs, however the pain never really went away.  Saturday morning was probably the hardest as my body was in shock an...

              Friday 2nd August             ENGLISH VERSION What a day! I still haven't learnt patience even though I knew I was going to be in for a long eventful day. I was asked to register at 7:00 a.m but my operation didn't happen until 3pm! As I was requested to fast from 11:00 p.m the night before, headaches started to kick in the morning and did not subside until I went under. Very uneventful morning, once registered we basically played the waiting game watching other people come and go for various surgeries. After 5 hours of sitting next to me Steve had to go and that's when the reality kicked in. The fear was not around losing my breasts or being in pain from the surgery but to not wake up and leave my kids without a mum. This was the time to let go not only of my breasts, but also of the tears that I've probably been holding back for so long. So after a 4 hours surgery, I awoke and even if I'm in a lot of p...

                    ENGLISH  VERSION                                  VERSION FRANCAIS (En bas) Mon Dessein - Dessein means Purpose/Goal in French but it is also a wordplay as it is pronounced “des seins” which means breasts. So this is a story of my health, my journey of breast cancer giving me a new purpose.  I received a lot of support and messages from friends and family and while I really appreciated the attention, I found it sometimes difficult to answer everyone in a timely manner if at all. So I decided that the easiest medium from which I can keep you up to date on my journey will be this blog.  THE FACTS As my family has a high risk of breast cancer, I regularly have routine checks.  Unfortunately, this time the MRI showed 3 abnormal masses and one of them was assessed via a biopsy at the end of May 2024....