Letters from Laryssa

   Hello my beautiful friend,     In my opinion, one of the most important things a cancer patient can have is complete trust in their care team. These are the healthcare professionals that will be guiding you on your journey, and you want to be able to have confidence that they will lead you to the finish line.      When I found my lump, I called my gynecologist's office to get it checked out. Dr. Thompson is a physician who not only cares for his patients, but deeply respects his patients' choices and wishes. He sent me for a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, which led to a biopsy, and then my diagnosis. When the nurse at the at the breast center called me with my results, she said my gynecologist frequently worked with a specific breast surgeon. What a blessing Dr. Frame turned out to be. He was so kind and patient, extremely knowledgeable and wanted to make sure I understood the nature of my diagnosis. Find a surgeon like that, someone...

  Hello my beautiful friend,                       Cancer is an ugly word, and it evokes ugly thoughts and feelings. So, when you are diagnosed with cancer it’s quite easy to go to a dark place and stay there. For your own emotional and mental benefit, I highly encourage you to find something to combat this. Having a positive outlook is so important. I know not everyone believes in God, and not everyone believes the Bible is his inspired word, but I do. As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for my faith, there is no way I would have been able to get through my chemotherapy and radiation treatments.            Early in my A/C treatment, that’s short for Adriamycin/Cyclophosphamide, the beautiful scripture at Isaiah 30:15 was shared with me, it says in part, “ Your  strength will be in keeping calm and showing trust.”   That thought brought me so much comfort. I had complete trust in Je...

 Hello my beautiful friend,     I'm so sorry to hear about your news. I'm sure you are feeling overwhelmed right now, blindsided, confused, and you don't know where to go from here. All those feelings are normal and natural; finding out you have cancer is definitely shocking and will take some time to come to terms with it. To be honest, even a year later there are days where I still can't believe this is my reality, but I know you are strong enough to get through this.      I found out about my cancer on January 2, 2020. I had spent most of December going through all the tests. First a breast exam by my GYN, who sent me for a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, which led to a biopsy on December 31, 2019. Despite the escalation of testing, it never occurred to me that I could have cancer. I was young, I had spent all of 2019 getting in shape and there was absolutely no history of breast cancer in my family, so surely, SURELY, there is no way I have breast ...