SURVIVING SURVIVORSHIP: Invisible Scars (>4 min version)

Pages

Posted by A Fighter, Cindy at 5:00 PM

A Fighter, Cindy: Texas, United States; Surviving. Surviving Survivorship. It's what I do every day. I am a multiple cancer survivor. Hodgkins Disease in 1983, and Breast Cancer in 2005. My overall quality of life has dramatically changed after hearing the words "you have cancer". I went from feeling strong, happy, and basically well, to a new life of cancer treatment hell. The long term side effects from cancer treatments are incredibly harsh. Mine include severe radiation nerve damage to my brachial plexus, leaving my right hand and arm in a state of constant pain, with zero to minimal functionality. Additionally I have severe heart damage, cardiomyopathy, and peripheral nerve damage from chemotherapy. Collateral damage they say. Killing the bad cells, also kills the good cells. Needs some major tweaking, eh?