Time to Celebrate

CatintheHat
CatintheHat Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I'm new to this site and I wish I knew about it when I started going thru treatment. I found my lump in the left breast and was diagnosed in Sept 08. I had chemo first then a bilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction followed by a lot of physical therapy then finally radiation treatments. I just recently finished all my treatments and the only thing left is surgery in Dec 09 to swap out the skin expanders for silicone implants. I want to celebrate in some way the fact that I survived treatment and invite all my family and friends that helped me thru it all but I'm at a loss as to what to do. I know it sounds like it should be a simple decision after all the difficult decisions I've made but I am just at a loss as to what to do - I'm blaming it on 'chemo brain' so I thought I'd put it out to you guys and see if any of you did something to celebrate.

Comments

  • Christmas Girl
    Christmas Girl Member Posts: 3,682 Member
    #2
    Welcome, CatintheHat
    Congratulations for completion of your treatments. You've come very far along the journey! Good for you, and we're glad to have you amongst us - though regretful for the reason, of course.

    Kudos for feeling so good right now that you desire a celebration!

    I celebrated my first "clean" mammogram after all treatment was done by taking my husband and parents out to dinner (well, hubby paid - but, I arranged for it!). They were my "big three" supporters all the way through. I guess I'm kinda low-key. :-)

    Whatever you do, enjoy!
  • rjjj
    rjjj Member Posts: 1,822 Member
    #3
    Christmas Girl said:

    Welcome, CatintheHat
    Congratulations for completion of your treatments. You've come very far along the journey! Good for you, and we're glad to have you amongst us - though regretful for the reason, of course.

    Kudos for feeling so good right now that you desire a celebration!

    I celebrated my first "clean" mammogram after all treatment was done by taking my husband and parents out to dinner (well, hubby paid - but, I arranged for it!). They were my "big three" supporters all the way through. I guess I'm kinda low-key. :-)

    Whatever you do, enjoy!

    Catinthehat
    Welcome and cngratulations! We love to celebrate good news here so..thanks for letting us in on the good news , and congratulations!

    Susan is right, just think of all the things you love most to do and do them with the ones you love most!
    Hugs, jackie
  • chenheart
    chenheart Member Posts: 5,159 Member
    #4
    And She Lived Happily Ever After
    Of Course I don't know what your personality is, but if it were me, I would probably have a light-hearted, "boob" themed celebration at my house! I would have ( tasteful,of course! LOL)Pink Balloons everywhere, cosmos to drink, or something similarly pink, pink flowers, napkins, tablecloths, etc. It could be a potluck, or "Just Desserts"~ well yeah~ winning the cancer battle is just desserts, isn't it? You could get a bunch of those pink rubber bracelets, which are pretty inexpensive in bulk and use them as napkin rings~ and just celebrate being a BC Survivor!

    Or forget a theme altogether! It just seems to me, that if you are indeed celebrating being a BC survivor, and want to thank your friends/family for helping you make the journey, having an obvious Breast theme may be a cool way to say thank you!!!

    Congrats to you!!!!!
    Hugs,
    Claudia
  • mlmjt1
    mlmjt1 Member Posts: 537 Member
    #5
    Hi cat
    I have no suggestions for you but I for one could just cry for you that you got thru it all. It gives me hope that someday I too will finish everything and be able to celebrate too.

    WHatever you do enjoy and know that I truly am celebrating with you

    Hugs
    Linda T
  • dyaneb123
    dyaneb123 Member Posts: 950
    #6
    Hey CatintheHat
    I will be
    Hey CatintheHat
    I will be turning 60 in Nov. just about the time I'll be finised with chemo and radiation...you better believe I'm going to celebrate! I want all my friends around me to share my happiness at having made it through this horrific last few months.We'll go find a great restaurant /bar and let loose. I hope you do the same with your friends. We deserve it.
    Dee
  • ritazimm
    ritazimm Member Posts: 171
    #7
    Welcome
    I felt the same way when I found this site filled with wonderful women (and a few men). It has been such a blessing to me to know that there are others that really can relate to my thoughts and feelings. I thought I was crazy - and maybe I am, but if I am I have a lot of company. :)

    I'm not a party person so I really can't help you there, but I'm sure you will find something special to do. I too find that sometimes the little decisions are harder to make than the big ones. My 'chemo brain' finally seems to be improving, but my poor hubby had to make ALL of the little decisions on his own because my brain was just too exhausted to make any 'more' decisions. When I got on the right medication, he knew the second day that I was better because all of a sudden I started to care (voice my opinion) about the 'little things'. I'm still not sure if he was happy at that point or not but I didn't ask because I didn't care. :)

    Congratulations on surviving all of the treatment.
    God bless,
    Rita
  • chenheart
    chenheart Member Posts: 5,159 Member
    #8
    dyaneb123 said:

    Hey CatintheHat
    I will be
    Hey CatintheHat
    I will be turning 60 in Nov. just about the time I'll be finised with chemo and radiation...you better believe I'm going to celebrate! I want all my friends around me to share my happiness at having made it through this horrific last few months.We'll go find a great restaurant /bar and let loose. I hope you do the same with your friends. We deserve it.
    Dee

    You Say It's Your Birthday, It's My Birthday Too!!
    There aren't too many good things about cancer~ well, none in fact! I don't need to be reminded that I wouldn't have found this awesome site, or met such amazing people, but let's be real here~ I wish I had met any of you ANYPLACE but on a web site dedicated to illness! And I imagine you all think the same way too!

    But, the only wiggler I will give to the Big C is this: It has made birthdays more palatable! I too will be 60~ as a matter of fact in 20 days! I will also be celebrating big time~and ok! Cancer has made me more aware that days/time are precious, and the alternative to getting old is~ we know what the alternative is! So whooo-hooo Dee and congrats to being a 1949 baby~ just like me! ( and it may not be the new 30, but 60 is soooo the new 40!!!)

    Hugs,
    Claudia
  • Kat11
    Kat11 Member Posts: 1,931 Member
    #9
    ritazimm said:

    Welcome
    I felt the same way when I found this site filled with wonderful women (and a few men). It has been such a blessing to me to know that there are others that really can relate to my thoughts and feelings. I thought I was crazy - and maybe I am, but if I am I have a lot of company. :)

    I'm not a party person so I really can't help you there, but I'm sure you will find something special to do. I too find that sometimes the little decisions are harder to make than the big ones. My 'chemo brain' finally seems to be improving, but my poor hubby had to make ALL of the little decisions on his own because my brain was just too exhausted to make any 'more' decisions. When I got on the right medication, he knew the second day that I was better because all of a sudden I started to care (voice my opinion) about the 'little things'. I'm still not sure if he was happy at that point or not but I didn't ask because I didn't care. :)

    Congratulations on surviving all of the treatment.
    God bless,
    Rita

    Congratulations, By all
    Congratulations, By all means you should celebrate. This is a big deal. I'm only two treatments in and you all done. Celebrate
  • Akiss4me
    Akiss4me Member Posts: 2,188
    #10
    Congratulations!!
    I absolutely love Claudia's idea (think I will steel this one) and going with an all pink theme. How much fun at the end of the night would it be to give each guess a "pink" baby pin to pop all the balloons? You could even have a piece of paper in each one written with a short note on something someone did that really was a blessing to you. They would have fun popping the balloons and reading the thank you notes inside aloud!! (:-) Pammy
  • fauxma
    fauxma Member Posts: 3,577 Member
    #11
    Akiss4me said:

    Congratulations!!
    I absolutely love Claudia's idea (think I will steel this one) and going with an all pink theme. How much fun at the end of the night would it be to give each guess a "pink" baby pin to pop all the balloons? You could even have a piece of paper in each one written with a short note on something someone did that really was a blessing to you. They would have fun popping the balloons and reading the thank you notes inside aloud!! (:-) Pammy

    What a great idea about the
    What a great idea about the short notes tucked into the balloons.
    Stef
  • CatintheHat
    CatintheHat Member Posts: 4
    #12
    mlmjt1 said:

    Hi cat
    I have no suggestions for you but I for one could just cry for you that you got thru it all. It gives me hope that someday I too will finish everything and be able to celebrate too.

    WHatever you do enjoy and know that I truly am celebrating with you

    Hugs
    Linda T

    Always have HOPE
    Linda T

    I hope you're crying happy tears for me!

    There are times when you feel like it will never end. I felt like I was stuck at the entrance of a very long dark tunnel and that I would never see the light at the end but those were the times that I leaned heavily on God, my family and friends. Take it one day at a time and do whatever you need to do for yourself to get thru that day - or that hour. There is always hope that there is an opening in the tunnel. Staying positive helps get you thru it all. It's hard I know but you've got to find the humor in this too. You will amaze yourself with the inner strength you have.

    Keep the faith, hope and the kleenex box handy and you will be celebrating soon enough.

    (I'm trying to be encouraging without being too preachy!!!)
  • cats_toy
    cats_toy Member Posts: 1,462 Member
    #13
    chenheart said:

    You Say It's Your Birthday, It's My Birthday Too!!
    There aren't too many good things about cancer~ well, none in fact! I don't need to be reminded that I wouldn't have found this awesome site, or met such amazing people, but let's be real here~ I wish I had met any of you ANYPLACE but on a web site dedicated to illness! And I imagine you all think the same way too!

    But, the only wiggler I will give to the Big C is this: It has made birthdays more palatable! I too will be 60~ as a matter of fact in 20 days! I will also be celebrating big time~and ok! Cancer has made me more aware that days/time are precious, and the alternative to getting old is~ we know what the alternative is! So whooo-hooo Dee and congrats to being a 1949 baby~ just like me! ( and it may not be the new 30, but 60 is soooo the new 40!!!)

    Hugs,
    Claudia

    so many August birthdays!
    must have been all those cold winter nights....
    so happy birthday to all the August birthday babies, they include my niece and nephew too!
    Mine is November like Dee's, I figure those must have been a good Valentine's Day.
    Cat
  • cats_toy
    cats_toy Member Posts: 1,462 Member
    #14
    welcome CatintheHat
    love the name. Seems as if a lot of us found this site after we had gone through treatment, I only found it this year, and I finished all major treatment the end of December 2007.
    Seems like anything you do will be a good celebration, sorry so late in welcoming you, but heartfelt all the same.
    Cat

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