{"id":2148,"date":"2016-04-04T19:58:55","date_gmt":"2016-04-05T02:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/turning-heads.org\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2016-06-26T19:59:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T02:59:27","slug":"denise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/turning-heads.org\/denise\/","title":{"rendered":"Denise"},"content":{"rendered":"

My story is a bit longer than most. \u00a0I had been married for about 6 months when I noticed my nipple was inverting. So, in 1997 at the age of 37 while my daughter was only 10, I was diagnosed with stage IIb breast cancer. \u00a0I had a double mastectomy and chemotherapy. \u00a0Life went on as \u201cusual\u201d. \u00a0I worked at Children\u2019s Hospital of Orange County as an RN for 25 years, 16 of them in PICU.<\/p>\n

In 2004 I started having referred pain in my neck and shoulder area and I had a PET\/CT scan that showed that I had a very large liver mass. \u00a0Since 2004 I have either been on chemotherapy or hormone blocker therapy to control the growth of the liver tumors. \u00a0In 2014 my doctors recommended a liver resection. The right dome of my liver was removed, but three months later I had more liver tumors that have not stopped growing since. \u00a0I am lucky that I don\u2019t have metastasis anywhere else except my liver.<\/p>\n

I have been so blessed with a wonderful and supportive marriage, I have seen my daughter grow into a beautiful woman graduating from high school, getting married, graduating college with her Master\u2019s in Early Childhood Education and landing a teaching \u00a0job. \u00a0I have also been blessed with 5 grandsons from my husband\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

My life has been full; mentoring to others going thru stage IV breast cancer, traveling around the country in our motorhome, and blessed in so many ways not only with family, but with a circle of close friends too. \u00a0Lots of prayers and my faith in God have kept me going all these years.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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