I Have Breast Cancer...Now What?

On February 25th, 2020, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I went to the oncologist two days later and found out that I have a particular type of breast cancer called Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which is actually the worst of all of them because it can be difficult to treat as chemotherapy is the only known treatment in the conventional oncology field. Also, I'm at stage II.

So, I've been sitting with this diagnosis for nearly 3 weeks, and I've had every range of emotional reaction possible. Shock, fear, confusion (cancer runs in my family...rampantly, but not this particular kind), anger, disappointment, more fear, terror, acceptance, and determination, and back again.

To say 2020 has been a rough year is a bit of an understatement. Just two months ago, I was running a successful and popular page on Facebook called The Articulate Autistic, (which I had to close down for reasons I don't want to get into or discuss at this time).

Two weeks later, boom, breast cancer diagnosis. I also discovered that I lost a blog I'd been running for nearly 10 years by accidentally deleting the entire thing when I thought I was just discontinuing a particular service. Still trying to work that one out.

Now, the page is gone, my website is gone, everything is on hiatus, and I'm trying to figure out how to live now, day by day, minute by minute, second by second (at times).

To make matters worse, we now have the coronavirus pandemic, and I've made the decision to delay my chemotherapy treatments until the threat quiets or calms a bit. I don't want to destroy my immune system in the middle of a pandemic, even if it DOES put me at increased risk.

The good new is, I'm the most resilient and stubborn person I have EVER known. I'm firmly determined to beat this thing, get healthy again, continue on with my writing, and live life.

But, for now, I want to do this blog. I was going to do a video series like I have in the past, but I know it will put too much of a strain on me, so I'm going to write about my journey instead.

I've been doing a lot of research on natural and integrative approaches to treating cancer, and I've been implementing them. (I'll talk more about those later in upcoming posts.)

This is where I am now: The Articulate Autistic and I Told You Was Sick (the blog I ran for nearly 10 years) has all been stripped away. This is me. Just Jaime. A 40-year-old autistic woman who's about to go on one literal hell of a journey...with a very strong conviction that she will, once again, rise from the ashes like a phoenix and come out better, wiser, and stronger than ever.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

Love and light always,

Jaime