One more sleep...

So..... Today is the last day that I will have breasts.... I am off to hospital tomorrow to begin my fight against breast cancer and having a double mastectomy. After being officially diagnosed on 27 June 2014, it feels like an eternity of waiting for the surgery date to arrive (but not so in realistic terms). And now it's "one more sleep"!!!

Am I scared, anxious, regretful?......No, none of the above. I'm all set, with gloves on, strategy in play, contingent at the ready.... just waiting for the "ding, ding" to announce ROUND # 1 - Sue Vs Breast Cancer.  Because that's how I have prepared for this battle.... one step at a time, yes, certainly... but a battle, nonetheless.

I'm a pragmatic kinda person (odd, I know, given that I'm an artist) but this is the only way I know how to fight. Give me the truth, keep it real, no sprinkling of fairy dust to ease the blow, for me. I want to know the "devil" I'm up against. I couldn't imagine fighting some obscure unnamed disease :- "sorry Sue, it appears to be some mutated virus, and we'll just have to wait and see".

Bugger that !

Call me strange, but I was relieved to see the name of my nemesis on the core biopsy results .... "Invasive Lobular Carcinoma with focal areas of Lobular Carcinoma in situ with involvement of ducts". Okay, so that's who you are ... you're not welcome .. prepare to be annihilated.

Enter stage left - visualisations of my nemesis being overcome by my impending treatment. This has helped me (and my children) to no end. Our psychological resilience is steadfast - just as it is about to be tested.

So ... one more sleep it is. I will not miss my breasts ... they have served me well ... have fed my 3 children for a collective of 4 years .... and we've had a lot of fun. I don't feel that my breasts define me as a women - for a while, they were an accessory, then a necessary appendage / processing milk plant, and now they are surplus to my needs - especially since they are harbouring potential assassins !

I am most grateful - I feel well informed and supported. With a loving husband and three healthy children, this is a battle most definitely worth fighting ... and if I need to play dirty and hit below the belt, then believe me, I will !

Sending best wishes to all my BC sisters ... never give up the fight

xx