<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>sporty03's Journal RSS Feed</title><link>http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/mynbcf/members/sporty03/journals/rss</link><description>sporty03's Journal RSS Feed</description><item><title><![CDATA[The process thus far...]]></title><link>http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/mynbcf/members/sporty03/journals/8067</link><guid>http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/mynbcf/members/sporty03/journals/8067</guid><description><![CDATA[May 7th, 2008...7 weeks after surgery. Life was a complete blurrrr for the past 7 weeks. Lots of thoughts going through my head..when coherant! I survived the worst of the pain and am healing with no glitches.....Mike and Elisa took wonderful care of me, and friends came round to help too. The expansion process takes forever! Weekly visits, pain and hardness after...to only yet again add more pain and hardness the very next week!!! I felt like a huge burden for awhile, being so needy, but I was also determined to get through this, and quickly! After all I have things to do, places to go, experiences to enjoy...LIFE is good! I am here.....]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Waiting....]]></title><link>http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/mynbcf/members/sporty03/journals/8023</link><guid>http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/mynbcf/members/sporty03/journals/8023</guid><description><![CDATA[The waiting, and the research while waiting was/became a blur for over a month. Many doctor visits in preparation for surgery kept me busy along with work, but March 19th couldn't get here fast enough. I wanted this over and done with! I read anything and everything I could find concerning treatment options for my type of cancer so I could make a well informed decision I could live with. I never asked another soul their advice, as I wanted this to be MY decision. In the end my husband said "it all comes down to what YOU can live with", and those were very profound words. I couldn't LIVE with it....it being the possibility that it could recur if I didn't simply choose to give up a part of my body that most women identify themselves/their sexuality with, but a part I felt I could live without. I made the decision for bilateral skin sparing masectomy with reconstruction immediatly. Now to simply wait for the process to begin.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[The beginning of the next part of my life.]]></title><link>http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/mynbcf/members/sporty03/journals/8017</link><guid>http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/mynbcf/members/sporty03/journals/8017</guid><description><![CDATA[In January of 2008 I had my usual mammogram. Wasn't concerned until I was called back for "more pictures" as they say. I was reassured several times by warm and caring nurses, who must have seen the terror in my eyes, that this was very common and to try to remain calm. Yeah right!!! I had my extra pictures done, and was told they found something. I was told they thought it may simply be calcifications, but if they did a biopsy they would know for sure. Now came 4 weeks of waiting until the biopsy day. 4 weeks of hell! The stereostactic (?) biopsy was a much more positive experience then I expected. The nurses were kind, warm, comforting, informative and there for ME! I had a back rub, warm blankets, and polite casual conversation the entire time. I felt loved and cared for at a time when terror was picking at the back of my brain. My husband was outside sitting in the lobby wondering if all was well, and after the final mammogram pics and geting dressed and being sent on my way and meeting him outside in the lobby I saw the terror in HIS eyes. I felt then and there that this moment our lives would change forever.]]></description></item></channel></rss>