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Hello friends! Miss Elana Rogers here, Denver-based Singer / Songwriter, Business Analyst and lover of the outdoors (www.elanarogers.com). This site is intended to dialogue my progress, stories and lessons learned along the way on my recent almost 2-year journey with triple-negative infiltrating ductal carcinoma (IDC) breast cancer. I was diagnosed June 4, 2009: 36 years of age. The breast cancer was caused by radiation treatment I received 17 years earlier when I was just 19 years old from Stage II Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (see “Articles” section of my blog). This would be the 2nd time in my life I have been diagnosed with cancer. I didn’t see it coming.

Thirteen days after my diagnosis with triple neg IDC, I had a double mastectomy (June 17, 2009) followed with 4.5 months of chemo, which concluded in December 2009. Just three months later during reconstruction surgery, an unfortunate recurrence was found in the same breast – except this time it was in my skin. This unfortunate news jumped me from Stage II to Stage IV, as the cancer had metastasized into the skin of my breast – a result of “needle tract seeding” (in other words, cancer cells were unintentionally implanted into my skin when the original biopsy needle was removed. Typically if a tumor can be seen or felt via an ultra sound, there’s a good chance they can do a needle biopsy to test the cells without doing an invasive surgery. As needles do – they go in and then they go out. Yet in my case the nasty cancer cells hung out in the small biopsy scar that the needle had left. They remained there unscathed all through chemo – only to be discovered because the biopsy scar was removed during reconstruction. Why? Because I asked them to remove it as a favor. Who wants an annoying scar?). Little did anyone know that this request would save my life.

By this time my hair begun to grow back and I was looking forward to a summer of celebration, but with the devastating news and an urgency to act fast, unfortunately I had to undergo chemo again (this time in the summer 2010). After thinking long and hard, I decided to wrap up my treatment this time with radiation, but chose to have it administered by the top boss of cancer hospitals and research centers: MD Anderson in Texas. I invested two months of living there to receive their cutting edge, 18 years-advanced radiation treatment. All this came to a wrap on Oct 15, 2010. When all was said and done, my “battle” (if you will) spanned 1 year and 5 months – but left me deemed “cancer free” by the medical community!

Creating this blog, for me, is the most useful means to communicate with everyone at the same time. Convenient for both you and me!

Please feel free to browse around and check out my personal posts, articles, sample of my music, photos, and leave comments. Again, the purpose of this is to share with friends and family so that they (you) can keep tabs on my progress, learn from my experiences and to find out whatever trouble I may be getting myself into.

Thank you for stopping by.

UPDATE: As of September 2011 – I am still cancer free, which means I’m almost at a year of remission! Oct 15, 2011 will be my official one year since treatments! Also, in March 2011 I had all the proper tests: PET CT, breast MRI, x-ray, bone scan and cbc. All point cancer free bee-yatches!

Meanwhile I’m hopping around in this world like a kid in a candy store. Since treatments I’ve been to Italy (Rome, Florence, Tuscany), Sedona, Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, France (Paris and Bordeaux), and have been spreading a lot of love amongst the Colorado mountains ALL summer!

Get that celebration on with your bad selves.

Warmest regards,
Laney

(After enjoying a good hot springs soak in Idaho Springs, CO. June 09′ – days after I was diagnosed)