Lymphomatoid Papulosis, my one-in-a-million disease 🦠

The cancer world is interesting – when diagnosed, most patients ask and wonder what may have caused their cancer. They try and find answers to why it may have happened to them, many with little relief of confirmation of the reason. The truth is, unless genetic, most doctors will never really know. In my case, I was told it was just “an accident” and “one of those unfortunate things”.

I often wonder if it was connected to a weird type of skin disease I was diagnosed with 7 years earlier. The first picture here is of a skin lesion that appeared on my arm during my pregnancy with my daughter. It looked like a bite or bump of some sort, but upon consultations and biopsies with a dermatologist at the time, I was told it was a rare skin lymphoma that occurs in 1 in a million people. We even delivered my daughter 2 weeks early incase I needed to undergo more extensive treatment for it (oral chemotherapy was mentioned at the time). There is not much research on it… some countries think of it as benign and other classify it was a type of skin cancer. We found two lesions at the time, and swiftly had both of them cut off at 32 weeks pregnant. For those who know me, that’s what the angry keloid scars on my arm and shoulder are from. My dermatologist was quite vague on what we should do next, telling me that the condition was so rare, she had only ever seen 1 case of it before in her career, and to try not to worry too much.

Fast forward 7 years and I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I do wonder if they are connected! I also hope that in the decades ahead, more research will be conducted and more concrete answers may be found for other people who have the same condition. Until then, I think I will always be curious. 🤔

#lymphomatoidpapulosis #raredisease #breastcancer #her2positivebreastcancer

To the babies who made it the best vacation we’ve ever had!! Charlie and Lola, you are EVERYTHING 🥹✨🙌🏼

Our trip of a lifetime is coming to an end but these memories deserve a permanent space on my feed. I’m feeling so grateful to be back here, where I spent summers as a child, with the people I love the most. Wales, you will always hold the biggest piece of my heart 🫶🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✨

And just like that… your hair (and your life) will come back ✨🙌🏼🥹

Our Vacation of a Lifetime 😭🌎

As many of you who follow this account may have read, we promised the kids we would take them to Disney when I got better. Well it turns out, our youngest had a change of heart and told us she didn’t want to go because the “lines would be too long” and it would be “too hot there” 🤪🫣

So instead we booked a 10 day Mediterranean cruise followed by a week with our family in the UK. We are about to embark on the trip of a lifetime and I can’t even believe it’s real. We leave on Wednesday and see the following places!

🌎 Lisbon
🌎 Gibraltar
🌎 Seville
🌎 Motrin
🌎 Ibiza
🌎 Majorca
🌎 Barcelona
🌎 Marseille
🌎 Nice / Monaco
🌎 Florence / Tuscany
🌎 Rome

From horse drawn carriage rides in Spain, to buggy riding in Ibiza, speed boating along the French Riviera to zip lining in Marseille, we are living our wildest dreams on this trip! Our final two days are spent enjoying an outdoor cooking class in a vineyard in Tuscany with the kids, and gladiator fighting on the floor of the Colosseum in Rome. We are making family memories to last us a lifetime. 🥹🥹

We have never cruised before but are sailing with @norwegiancruiseline on their newest ship, the Norwegian Viva. For the next 3 weeks, cancer doesn’t exist here! Unlimited ice cream, waterslides, late night dancing under the stars, sunset champagne toasts, European cities, crystal blue seas and pure celebration and joy is where you will find us ✨

Grateful for our village! 🤍
(We missed you @j_stew84)

Lifestyle After Cancer 🚴🏼‍♀️

I’ve learned that lifestyle post-cancer can go in many different ways. Some survivors go all-in on healthy, naturopathic living choices, and live off kale and turmeric and endless exercise. Others go off the deep end and binge Netflix and eat all the McDonalds they can find to celebrate their victory. I decided I wanted to find a middle ground that felt sustainable for me, and here I am.

This body of mine, regardless of her countless scars and her cellulite, has carried two beautiful babies, endured a dozen surgeries, and has beaten cancer. She deserves to have some love poured back in, and that’s what I decided to do this year. The second the snow melted at the end of March, I got my bike out. My old lady cruiser bike with the comfy padded saddle and purple glittery paint. She’s not fancy but I love her. And I started pedalling. And I didn’t stop. I set small goals for myself and found my strength increasing with every ride. Until here I am today… since March 25th I have completed 34 rides, totalling 440km and counting! (that’s the equivalent of biking from Ottawa to Toronto). I have found my hours on my bike healing… it’s the only time I get to be completely alone, to process my thoughts and to dig deep and find my strength.

I also changed the way I eat. I decided to go low-carb. I don’t use the word keto because it comes with a lot of negative baggage, but I guess you could (casually) call it that. I don’t count my calories or my carbs, I do still enjoy my wine, and occasionally I steal my kids candy. But I am a lot more careful and conscious about what goes into my body now. I do not weigh myself. I can’t weigh myself. That number on the damn scale has robbed years of joy from my life, and I won’t let it do it again. So instead, I measure my progress by my strength. My stamina. My happiness. My patience. My peace. One bike ride at a time, one good meal at a time, I am becoming stronger than I was before cancer. I am so grateful for this second chance. 🤍🥹