Skip to main content

Good afternoon, is this Laryssa?

 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 cancer, or so I thought. The fact that the breast center was calling me the day after a holiday with results should have been a clue that the news wasn't good. So when the sweet nurse said "invasive ductal carcinoma" I was stunned. How could this be? This has to be a mistake? The world around me crashed and I felt numb. The tears started to well up and my coworkers could tell things were bad. They called Brian for me, and sat with me while I waited for him. I'll never forget the look he had when he walked into my office, it was like controlled turmoil. I could tell he was upset, but he was doing his best to be strong for me. 

    I took the weekend to reflect on everything. As one of Jehovah's Witnesses I am a person of great faith and I did as 1 Peter 5:7 encourages and threw my burden on Jehovah God. I poured my heart to Him in prayer, and was blessed with a calming peace, just like Philippians 4:6&7 promises. I highly encourage you to pray to him, and see if He doesn't do the same for you. 

Hang in there sweet friend. You will get through this, and afterwards you'll feel stronger than you ever have. 

Much Love,

Laryssa 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Change can be a good thing!!

  Hello my beautiful friend,                   Sometimes when we get a diagnosis of cancer, we may feel like our lives are over. After going through chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, and suffering the aftereffects of those treatments, we may feel that our lives are no longer our own. That we are a shadow of what we used to be. Despite my own struggles in coming to terms with my “new normal”, I choose to turn them into a positive. I allowed those experiences to refine me, not define me. Having gone through those experiences have allowed me to pinpoint exactly what I want out of life and given me the courage to pursue new opportunities that I wouldn’t have dared to dream for myself.                                 Recently, I have gone through a season of change. I decided to pursue continued education with the goal of being able to work fro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Babe, what’s this?

Hello my beautiful friend,       So, this story is a little embarrassing for me to tell because it’s the story of how I found my lump and how long it took for me to get it checked out. I am hoping my story will help others in my situation make a different decision.     I found my lump in June of 2019. I'm not sure what led me to do a breast exam. I was young, no history of breast cancer in my family, but nonetheless, I did and found a lump. I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was just a stupid little cyst and went on with my life. As time went on, it stayed there, and I did a little research and found that women who undergo hormonal changes may get little cysts in their breasts. I had a hysterectomy in April of 2019 and have dealt with endometriosis and PCOS most of my life, so issues with my hormones was not new to me. I thought that was the reason I had a lump; nothing for me to worry about.     My husband found my lump in Oct...
Post a Comment
Read more

Keep Calm and Show Trust

  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...
Post a Comment
Read more