About Me

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I'm a Jesus loving girl who is blessed with an amazing husband and two beautiful children. At the age of 23, while pregnant with my firstborn I noticed a dome shaped nodular area on my left hip. It started growing larger and eventually started bleeding. After the birth of my baby girl and my 24th birthday I decided to get the ugly bump checked. The result was Stage III nodular Malignant Melanoma that had extensions into my lymph nodes. I completed a year of Interferon chemotherapy. a year later I became pregnant with my second child. After his birth I developed two more melanoma primary tumors-- stage 1 2010, and stage 2 in 2011. Since then I have made it my mission to advocate and educate to bring about melanoma awareness in hopes that it could save others from this deadly disease. Thankfully, I am very healthy and doing very well! I have No Evidence of Disease and I'm showing Cancer Who's Boss by staying fit and healthy. I plan to blog about my adventures in running over cancer during training for my first Full marathon Fall 2014. Remember to love your skin, protect your skin, and check your skin. Share the love and spread the chemical-free lotion!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Oncology Visit July 4th-5th 2012


Hello friends,  My appointment with my oncologist at Vandy was set for July 5 to get results from my most recent scan in June.  We decided to make this a fun trip and celebrate July 4th in Nashvegas, especially since we heard their firework show is top 5 in the Nation. Before fireworks we ate at Ted's Montana grill where I ate the most amazing Veggie Burger ever!  The waitress said they make them homemade in their restaurant daily.  Even my meat eater hubby loved it, so if your into eating healthy you should try their veggie burger.  After eating we made our way to down town Nashville near LP field.  I have never seen so many people in one area in my life! Fighting the crowd was so worth it once we found a spot on the bridge.  I must say Nashville definitely knows how to do fireworks!  Best show I've ever seen and blessed to stand next to the sweetest strangers on the bridge.  The little guy next to us had a glow in the dark red, white, and blue necklace.  He looked to be maybe 18 with downs syndrome. He had kind eyes and the sweetest smile. Such innocence!!!  He shared his Justin Bieber music and fist bumped Liv and Andrew each time the fireworks exploded.  We all whoop whooped together and high fived.  God blessed me with such sweet pureness from this precious soul.


The Next morning we got up early and left for Vandy. Livi always brightens things up with her natural humor.  she out of the blue asked "mom when I get to be a mom like you will I have eyes in the back of my head too?"  Haha of course I said sure will doll.  later on that day as I was trying to find Andrew's sippy cup in the car, Livi said"mom it's right behind you.  Didn't you see it with your behind eyes?"  Then she said, "oh, I bet your hair was in the way."   My life is so full of laughter because of my Livi girl.   I have to say it never gets easy or feels right to walk through the doors to the cancer center.  Most of you who read my blog know that I'm a medical Professional.  I have a Bachelor of Imaging Science and I'm licensed in OB/GYN, Vascular, and Abdominal Ultrasound.  I'm use to being the one taking care of patients...not being the patient. I was especially nervous when I was put in the procedure room (where things like lymph node biopsies take place) to be seen by my oncologist.  Thankfully  Dr. K came in smiling and said "good news, you lymph nodes are stable"  the report says "multiple enlarged inguinal and axillary lymph nodes but stable compared to previous scan".  Praise God!!!!  Happy Dance!!!  Dr. K said most recurrences occur within the first two years after cancer surgery and it's been a little over a year since my last surgery:-)  I'm getting closer and closer to those six month visits.  I go back to Vandy in September and I see my local oncologist in November and then back to Vandy in December.  I can't thank you all enough for your support and your prayers that get me through each day.  For the next three months I'm going to be training for tough mudder and working on my 5K speed.  I plan on meeting with all my fellow Melanoma Warriors in Nov at the North Carolina AIM walk/run.  Much love to you all!!!!  Don't forget to share the love and spread the lotion.
Still hard to believe sometimes

Yea!!!!  Good News!!!!

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