Breast Cancer Walk Sep 30,2012-Digitalbabe

Hi fellow Ninjas!

As I've been away for quite some time (completely atypical), and several of you have been concerned about my whereabouts, I am posting here as it is one of, if not the most active sub-forum.

First, to my fellow Ninjas-especially Andy, Wreck, Horhay, our amazing Section Supervisors, and and all of my close friends on this forum have assisted in letting anyone who expressed concern, know that I am having a significant health challenge right now-a very special thank you to them. In addition, they've tried their best to fill in, where I usually stand at our ever-growing forum. As a smaller, but growing and super-active community, that is no small feat, because when one of us admins is out, it is felt for sure.

I did not initially post details about any of this, because we've been through quite the emotional roller coaster since I found out,and I've had 15+ doctor's appointments since early June when the runaway train began. It needed to first be a very personal journey for us. This crazy set of appointments by the way, is standard, as I am in the care of two amazingly thorough doctors at one of the top facilities.

Between the constant appointments, self education, nurse education, and phone calls to coordinate various aspects of my care, I have come up for air today to post at HDN.

I have breast cancer. Completely out of the blue, and yes, completely shocked initially-especially at 36 years old-relatively young-but more and more women are finding out that they have it, in their 30's. 200K+ diagnosed every year, it touches not only them, but everyone around them-friends and family. As humorous and strong as I am, this was still a freight train for me, as I have always been, otherwise healthy-and discovered it, by pure accident. But I am now in full war gear-emotionally and physically.

Needless to say, I have not had the head to engage in some of my hobbies and regular activities as 'Community Manager' at HDN, because this has taken center stage in our home for the last weeks, as we gear up to begin treatment, and all necessary tests, preparations that had to be completed.

As many of you know, Steelbooks, Collectibles and movies are huge parts (I see a Prometheus Steelbook and other cool titles are in the works-yay!) of my life, and have been as long as I can remember- and I miss it very much on a daily basis. I hope to return to HDN and pop in here and there, as my mind and physical well-being allows, but as part of my treatment, extreme fatigue, and a long list of undesirable side effects (very ugly), are in my cards over the next few months, as a trade off to eradicate this from my body. Add to that constant monitoring, blood tests, and other tests to make sure I am weathering the strong drugs and it will be a full time job.

Please know, that my partner of 13 years and I are being very strong, proactive, and optimistic. Both formerly athletes, our mind is that of inner strength, competition, and preparation-all of which come in handy especially now. Though there are many unknowns in terms of how I will take the treatments (everyone is different), mental strength and endurance is a huge part of this process and the benefits are confirmed by our doctors-every day, we restart the clock and remain mentality tough. If you're not familiar-basically every cell in my body will be viciously assaulted (hence the violent side effects) with the end goal of killing the bad ones. Between treatments, I must regrow my good cells to get ready for the next treatment.

There are several positive factors regarding my specific condition (it is very different for every woman) that are making this slightly easier to treat, but I still have to have a combination of chemo (starts next Thursday 7/19/2012), surgery and radiation-when all is said and done it will absorb a year or more of my life-and I'll always have to be monitored for recurrence.

So here is what I ask of you guys who wish to do so-I will lock this thread, and bump it a few times later on. I honestly don't know when I will be in here again to read any replies to the thread itself, so this works better for me. But my PM's are enabled, and I am subscribed to receive them via e-mail. So, please feel free to send messages of support and encouragement. Our large support network of friends and family have been instrumental in adding to our emotional and physical toughness for the road ahead. And although many of us are friends via HDN only and don't necessarily know each other offline, some of us have become like family. Even if we don't know each other well, feel free to say hi anyway. The messages from the very few of you who did know these details beforehand, your messages and gifts have brought smiles to our home and hearts, even on days when I was still battling disbelief and anger...not too long ago.

Wreck and Andy are in touch with me via e-mail and I send them periodic e-mails as I feel up to it. If you wish to contact me via e-mail, please send me a PM, and I am happy to send you either my e-mail or postal address.

As a lifelong fan of 'Xena', this has become my nickname for this intense journey. Her zest for life as that character, and 'Warrior Princess' qualities match my feistiness and kick ass attitude....and lets face it, her outfit is not bad either

If you have every dealt with this, or something similar or worse, my heart goes out to you, and my strength is shared with you and your family.If you have girlfriends or wives, please, please, please encourage them to self-examine and get checked. Heredity plays virtually no part in this, and it can all start with 1 cell in your body that goes rogue, so self-awareness is key. I mention this to do my part to salute all of the women who came before me, and all of those that will come after.

And to everyone that continues to be part of the Xena 'Warrior Princess' army, and stand by us, I thank you in advance for your kind thoughts, support, cards and encouragement. As my goal and intent is to integrate this 'into' all of the various aspects of my life, and personality, and not have this define me indefinitely-you may see me post here and there and see flashes of 'the typical me'. If you don't, do not worry-just drop me a line, and I'll respond when I can.

In the meantime-thank you for being part of our extended support system for the months to come. Keep HDN hopping with friend referrals, new threads, helping out new members joining-and enjoy your movies!

Xena's battle cry is underway, and I hope to be back as soon as I can

Talk to you all soon,
DB

[digitalbabe]

He guys-bumping this in case you missed it, as I am entering another surgery, and treatment this week. Just hopped on to HDN, to thank everyone for their amazing words of encouragement and for being part of my 'Warrior' army. If you sent me a PM and have not gotten a response-don't worry I am responding to every single message as soon as I can. Thank you for your continued well wishes!

[digitalbabe]

My Susan G Komen walk organized by friends is September 30,2012. I have my 4th Chemo treatment this Thursday and another follow up with Dr.

As this difficult journey progresses, I want to thank everyone again for all of your PM's of support and donations received thus far! With your humor, you add to the extended, worldwide team of HDN friends cheering me on. If I can pending side effects, I will walk side by side with my team, and thank anyone in advance for anyone else who wishes to contribute to my team's fundraising efforts, and to my positivity as I work hard to get healthy again.

You guys

Donation link in signature-

Thank you!

DB