Holly's Story

I have hair again! After 7 months of wearing something on my head I have finally shed the scarves and started sporting a “boy cut”; though it’s not really a cut it’s just growing back. It’s still way short and not as thick as I thought it would be by this point, but...

Coming up on my last treatment is huge.  I’m SO excited to get to say that I’m done, but at the same time I’m really dreading doing one more round.  I hate how the treatments make me feel, being run down and totally unmotivated to do anything.  Only one more, but...

Monday (day 14 from chemo start) my hair started to come out just like they had said. It was like clockwork. I got up to go to the gym and as I combed thru my hair with my hands, it just came out. I put a hat on and went on to the gym. Later when I took a shower it...

I am officially one week past my chemo start date.  I’m happy to say that the week was much better than I had expected.  I wasn’t sick at all.  The worst part of it was taking the steroids; they really made me crazy.  I’ve had some side effects, but all minor compared...

   Several of our friends and family have mentioned wanting to put together a Race for the Cure team to support Holly in her fight against breast cancer.  Holly's oldest sister Lora has put together a team ('Holly's Hooters') for this year's race in Knoxville.  The...

After meeting with 2 oncologists we have decided on the more aggressive treatment.  Both doctors stated I would have to be on Herceptin for a year, so that was not different and both said the same type of chemo drugs (Taxotere and Carboplatin).  We did have to choose...

Today I really feel like complaining.  So this is my disclaimer… if you don’t want to hear a bunch of whining and complaining, stop reading right now.  Wait until my next post and then start reading again. This morning in the shower I totally cried my eyes out.  This...

A week has passed since I had surgery.  Each day I’m feeling better, but still not feeling like myself.  I have to say that I didn’t know just how loved and cared for Dan and I would be.  I’ve never had so much love showed that I can ever remember before.  We have...

Well, this is it.  Tomorrow is surgery day.  I can’t begin to express how scared and full of dread that I am right now.  I guess the unknown is always the worst.  It feels like my life is ending and this new life that I don’t want and wasn’t looking for is taking...

Dan has suggested that I write about how I (really we; because Dan is in this too) came to the decision of a double mastectomy.  So here goes…  My options were 1) lumpectomy followed by 7 weeks of radiation for 5 days a week; 2) mastectomy to the right breast only...

Today we made our decisions on what to do. I’ll be having a double mastectomy with immediate reconstructive surgery. The start of this long process will begin on July 23. This is when the first surgery will be done. The doctor informed us today that he is 90% certain...

We wrapped up all final appointments as of today. All the tests are done. I got good news with the gene testing; I tested negative for the breast cancer gene. I really didn’t know this was good news to start with. I was so convinced that I had the gene that it was a...

I have to confess, I’m really surprised that anyone read this and actually commented on it. I really appreciate all the words of encouragement and support! I guess I should just get it out of the way and say “Dan… you were right.” People read blogs. Today we met with...

I’m writing this based on Dan’s suggestion. I’ve never read a blog or written one, so it’s probably not going to be that interesting, but here goes. Last week I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Needless to say it has turned our lives upside down. At 33, that’s not...