My Introduction from Suzanne

Hi all,

My name is Suzanne and I am very happy to be joining this group. I have been living with metastatic breast cancer for 5 and a half years. Mothering my 2 little ones. Grace (8) and Dominic (6) continues to be my biggest challenge.

I am 44 years old and live in CT. (Hey Cathy! We are practically neighbors!) I have been married for 18 years. My husband and I are both optometrists. We spent the first several years of our marriage working like maniacs to pay off our student loans.

When we decided to start a family, we had major issues with infertility. After several years dealing with that challenge, we finally had our beautiful daughter and a son to follow. I thought I was done with medical challenges. It was just beginning!

In 2004, I was diagnosed from the start with metastatic disease to the bone. I had dose dense chemo, mastectomy and was on hormone therapy for almost 3 years. (Thank god for lazy cancer). Last April things began to change and I developed lymph nodes in my stomach affecting my kidneys and liver mets. I have been back on chemo ever since. I started with taxol/avastin and am now on Xeloda. So far so good. Stable is my new favorite word.

I am a SAHM now and volunteer quite a bit at my kid's school, girl scouts, sing in a chorus and am vice president of the Metastatic Breast Cancer Network. Life is good. Considering.......