The Struggle Is Over

An interview with my mother in law Sharon Lewis about her experience with breast cancer.

LL: When were you first diagnosed with breast cancer

SL: I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2006. I found a lump in my breast and ignored it for months and it was there for a while and finally I made an appointment and had a mammogram in December 2006. Then when they gave me the biopsy they said it was stage three cancer.

LL: What was your first thought?

SL: My first thought was, what’s the next step? I didn’t panic because that is just my personality. I had a very kind doctor who was very gentle with me when breaking the news and this also helped. So we laid down the plan and it was to perform surgery in January but my sugar was too high because I am diabetic and so they couldn’t do the surgery until April. There were a lot of setbacks before I could have my surgery but after waiting five months they finally removed lymph nodes under my arm, which was just a standard. Two of the lymph nodes had cancer and two didn’t, for this reason they wanted to remove more but instead of going through surgery again and risk the chance of still having to keep going to surgery I chose to have a mastectomy- which means that I chose to have one of my breasts’ removed to prevent the cancer from spreading. The surgery was in June and I was released to go home after only one day. Thank God, two days later I was cooking Sunday dinner with the help of my grandson helping me with the lifting of heavy pots, but that is just one of the ways I show my family how much I love them.

LL: I remember that day. I was so surprised that after such a major surgery you were in that kitchen cooking some delicious soul food. So tell us about your struggle to recovery.

SL: The surgery wasn’t as bad as the chemo and radiation. After the removal of my left breast my entire arm was also very weak. My experience with chemotherapy and radiation was much harder. Chemo is debilitating. It takes every ounce of energy from you and you just want to go to sleep afterwards.

LL: What happens during chemo exactly?

SL: During chemo they put an IV in you and drip the medicine into the IV, this takes a few hours. Chemo was every three weeks for me and by the time I would start feeling good again, it was time to go again. I took chemo for three months. Chemo has come a long way from years ago because they have anti nausea medication. I lost my hair after the first treatment. Those are some strong chemicals. Chemo destroys your red and white blood cells and weakens your immune system. If you need assistance in keeping your immune system up, there are medicines that can help, but I was pretty good. After chemo was radiation, some people choose to take these two together but I wanted to have these separately. I went through chemo from August to November 2006.

LL: Wow, you went through a lot alone with the surgery and then the chemo. Tell us about what radiation was like.

SL: Radiation was every day, five days a weak for just a few seconds but I had to get up early and my husband had to drive me everyday.

LL: Does it hurt in any way, going all the time like that?

SL: After a little while it leaves a burn mark but you don’t feel anything immediately though it began to get tender in the spot where my breast used to be. I had radiation from November 2006 – February 2007, every day five days a weak.

LL: I know you must have been so happy when it was over. How much weight did you lose during this whole time?

SL: I went from 208 lbs and went down to 150 lbs. I felt weak all the time and couldn’t even walk by myself sometimes.

Curvy Confidence Editor, Limarie Lewis -- Daily Venus Diva.

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Limarie Lewis is a Philadelphia native recording artist known as Poetikmind with her independent critically acclaimed album titled "Deep Thoughts Defined". She is a wife, stepmother, poet, writer, Sunday school teacher, administrative assistant and aspiring plus model with a BA in Elementary & Special Education. Limarie enjoys working with youth and empowering women of all ages to love themselves for who they are because they are fearfully and wonderfully made. www.modelmayhem.com/poetikmind Where Are You From: I am from all over Philadelphia, from the hood to the suburbs and back.I lived in NY when I was a little girl for about a year but I am a Philly girl. What were you doing before writing for DailyVenusDiva.com: Before writing for DVD, I put out my first spoken word album titled “Deep Thoughts Defined” and had a poetry blog. What do you do for DailyVenusDiva.com: As the Curvy Confidence Editor, I sometimes do product reviews, share stories that help boost self-love and self-awareness and write inspirational poetry What does it mean to Thrive In Your Curves: Thriving in your curves is not allowing anyone to put you in a box because of your size. What is your favorite hobby: I love family so relaxing with my family always feels good to me but as a hobby I love to write and perform poetry as well as practice my model poses in the mirror. Oh I also love making Youtube videos. What is in your future: Only God knows my future What’s so special about DailyVenusDiva.com: This is an everyday site with fresh content for the curvy woman. The editors interact with the readers and every story is relevant to us. We too have a voice and this is just one of the hottest places to use it!

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