Now I knew what to expect, so the fear of getting my chemo had subsided slightly. I had been going in for weekly blood counts where they drew blood to monitor my white and red blood cell counts. The day before my scheduled second treatment, the nurse informed me that treatments would be delayed due to my low white blood cell count. I begged her to let me

My friend Tony began making last minute arrangements for the Cancer Benefit Party in my honor. It would be held in three weeks at a huge bar in the South End in Boston. Already over 300 people had RSVP’d ‘yes’. This would be the first of many parties Tony threw in my honor over the next year. Because of my weakened immune system and susce…[more]

The next three weeks after my first chemo treatment certainly weren’t great, but they were bearable. The first week I encountered serious side effects including constant nausea and throwing up, stomach pains, diarrhea and dehydration. Not to mention I had lost my appetite. I have never had a problem eating. In fact it’s one …[more]

I used the weekend to mentally prepare myself for returning to work. My boss was the only person that knew I had cancer. I wanted to get used to wearing the wig before my hair actually fell out, so on Monday, I would sport my red wig.

I woke up extra early to get ready. It was a tough morning, trying to get the wig situated in exac

I had been taking classical violin lessons when I was six and although I had once had a dream of being a musician, I gave it up to have a more stable job. But I had continued taking violin lessons with a woman named Janice who was teaching me improvisation and other non-classical styles. In addition to being a violin teacher, she also acted as a li

After my first treatment, the six of us, excluding my mom headed over to another friend’s apartment for the party where we met eight other friends. I knew my hair would fall out soon. I also knew that losing my hair in clumps would be traumatizing, especially if it was still long. How would my friends react to this? I had had almost a month to accept …[more]

I finally had a plan...If I chose to do the treatments at Sloan Kettering, I would pay out of pocket and probably be in debt for the rest of my life. So I headed back to the Doctor #1 because she was on my insurance plan. I knew from then on, I would be responsible for taking my health into my own hands. Previous to being diagnosed, I thought doctors…[more]

With the holidays approaching, the doctors wanted to wait until January to begin chemotherapy. This was very upsetting news and I begged them to let me start sooner. That probably sounds crazy to someone who has never gone through it, but the thought of having some wild runaway cancer cells in your body makes it hard to sleep at night. I felt like getting on chemoth…[more]

Every time my dad looked at me he started bawling. “Dad, I’m going to be ok, I tried to reassure him.” “But I’m not,” he responded. “I can’t handle the idea of my baby girl dying.”I had always put other people’s feelings first, but for once I needed to be selfish. One evening I told him that…[more]

The two weeks after my lumpectomy were the two longest weeks of my life as I waited for the results. The day I had been dreading arrived. I called the hospital in the morning to find out if cancer was all over my body. “The margins are clean,” Chrissy told me. I had prepared for the worst so I started crying with relief at her response…[more]