San Diego, CA

Our Next Journey

It now seems so long ago ( only a month) that we were spending balmy evenings on 
the Sun Valley green picnicking at sunset whilst listening to the sun valley summer 
symphony; planning our upcoming trip to England and the next leg of our sailing 
journey.  Little did we know then ,that this would come to a grinding halt and 
all our plans would have to be put on hold.
Our lives have become transient these last 4 years,after leaving our home (25 
years ) in Rancho Mirage we have been  traveling to new horizons always moving 
west as we sail around the world.We left behind friends and family which 
included all our support systems that we would normally have harnessed at times 
like these. All our new friends along this journey are also scattered ,so we 
rely on our blogs, Facebook,emails and Skype for all our  communication  . I 
would never  have considered this pathway before ,but now it doesn't seem 
surprising for me to be writing about this latest journey in our lives.
During  these last 3 weeks I have been extremely anxious not knowing what comes 
next.It is so hard to loose control and have patience to wait for results.It is 
truly surreal ,one moment being logical having discussions about statistics and 
outcomes and the next being an emotional wreck ,not sleeping and having 
discussions with myself all night,truly an eye opener into our vulnerability and 
how much we take life for granted.
Being diagnosed with 'cancer ' sends a tremendous jolt to your brain! Before you 
have even begun the battle this word hits you like a ton of bricks ,so that it 
is hard to logically see the wood for the trees.
We have both been avidly  reading what seems like every study ,paper,trial ever 
written on breast cancer ,yea for iPads and Internet ( in every circumstance). 
We have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge on the subject ,including all 
the advances in treatment  :)
 I have had many and multiple doctor consults,at Eisenhower medical center and 
at UCSD medical center ,with mammograms,ultra sounds ,biopsies,various kinds of 
scans ,tests and surgery and now finally all the cards are on the table ,so we 
can make the most fully informed decision as to my best option for treatment 
.The oncotype dx test came back today with a score of 13  :)
this suggests that I do NOT need chemo therapy :) :)
I will be starting  22 days of radiation therapy on Monday and then starting a 
daily oral medication for the next 5 years.
We can now plan our next  phase in the journey. It feels so good to be back in 
control again.