This is what the face of a cancer survivor looks like.

According to the article “Cancer Survivor” in Wikipedia:

A cancer survivor is an individual with cancer of any type, current or past, who is still living. About 11 million Americans alive today—one in 30 people–are either currently undergoing treatment for cancer or have done so in the past.”[1]

I have to stop thinking of myself as a cancer patient and start thinking of myself as a cancer survivor.

I AM surviving. I’m living my life, though it’s a different life than I would have if I didn’t have cancer. I’m still working except for “treatment days” or days I don’t feel well enough to work. Thankfully, since my chemo changed to Navelbine and Herceptin mid-Feb., I feel better than I did with the previous chemotherapy cocktail (Taxol, Carboplatin, and Herceptin). Tomorrow I have a CT Scan which will show if/how much the new protocol is working. I’m nervous, yes, but I hope and pray the Navelbine and Herceptin are doing their jobs and shrinking the tumors in my liver.

But I’m surviving. I’m went on a wonderful vacation with my family. I get up and bathe every day. I’m not typically depressed. Sometimes the ongoing treatments wear me down physically, emotionally, and mentally . . . but I tend to pick myself up at some point.

I go to church whenever I can. I keep touch with friends whether via FaceBook, email, text, phone, or in-person. I still have thank you cards to write from my April 16 fundraiser. I don’t get much housework done because I’m exhausted from my days at work, but that can wait. That will always be there . . . unfortunately.

I laugh. I cry. I think, ponder. I do what I can do with the energy that I have.

I’m a Survivor. I’m Surviving with cancer. I’m Living with cancer. It’s still there, but I’m trying to Live with it in my life as well as I can. Sometimes I feel like I fall short, but that could be because I just can’t do as much as I used to. Cancer is certainly a way of stripping out the extraneous stuff in your life and getting down to basics.

But I’m surviving, and I’ll be surviving until I’m no longer here.

That’s the face of a Survivor, folks.

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Cross-posted to Mothers With Cancer.