5 Years' Survival--Or: I'm on Velvet!

I was diagnosed and treated for early-stage breast cancer in 1996, nearly 16 years ago.

I received the diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer in the first week of May, 2007--that's 5 years ago.

According to the currently available (and no doubt outdated) statistics, the probability of my surviving 5 years ranged from 15% (American Cancer Society data) to 24% (Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results [SEER] Program data).

The median total survival with Stage 4 / metastatic breast cancer is from 2 to 3 years after diagnosis (various published sources). I am still in my "first" remission, 5 years later....

During the past 5 years of life, I managed to do the following:

• Watched as 2 daughters graduated from high school, and 1 of them graduated from college (2 more years to go for the 2nd daughter, and I plan to be there, cheering, on her graduation day!).
• Interviewed for, and obtained, 2 new jobs. My current job is WONDERFUL!!!
• Played music with a terrific, FUN, multitalented house band.
• Dated some interesting men.
• Created stone carvings, including my largest piece, Daphne (see below).
• Found a new level of attentional functioning with the blessed help of methylphenidate.
• Sung in a community choir, a women's choir, and a Threshold choir.
• Bought a new house, my very own.
• Laughed, cried, bitched, quetched, and generally lived life, with all its delights, drudgeries, worries, and satisfactions.

I am thankful--to the wonders of chemotherapy and Herceptin; the expertise of my health care providers; and the comradeship, support, and affection of my friends and family. Bless you all!!!

Notes on Daphne:

In the ancient Greek legend, Daphne was a wood nymph who attracted the notice of the god Apollo, who desired and pursued her. She tried to escape his embrace, and just before he caught her, she cried out to her father, a river god, who “rescued” her by changing her into a laurel tree.

Apollo made a crown of laurel leaves, and decreed that the laurel crown would forever after be a sign of great honor.

The pursuit, flight, and transformation of Daphne was depicted in a famous marble statue by the 17th-century Italian sculptor Bernini, and is also featured in Botticelli’s painting La Primavera. My limestone miniature represents a more stylized and personal interpretation of a most unwelcome metamorphosis.