Cancer Free

I had surgery about six weeks ago and had what they call a “complete response”: All the cancer in my body was gone. I was lucky to have only three lymph nodes removed along with my entire left breast. I will not be having reconstruction or plastic surgery—having one boob is gonna take some getting used to, but I was cleared to pick my kid up again after 10 days, so, win! 

Am I done with treatment? LOL, no. I have six weeks of radiation coming up this month, plus eight more months of immunotherapy infusions every three weeks. (That means I have to keep my mediport in for most of 2023, which sucks.) Oh, and daily meds for 5-10 years. 

I made this because I wanted to ruminate on what being cancer-free means to me…and I wanted to be able to announce it in a cool way. I ice dyed the “cancer free” fabric and trim. I was inspired by old-timey fraternal society banners. 

I wish I could offer you some wisdom or lesson I’ve learned so far, but I’m still processing what all of this means for me, for my family, and for the woman I am now. I’m so thankful for the kindness people offered to us through this terrible time. My quilt friends created a quilt auction to help me! At home, people brought over a ton of food! People watched my baby when we needed them to! All of that was amazing. I feel truly lucky to be in community with you all. 

During chemo, I had a wonderful group of pattern testers work on my Swords Pattern, and I slowly finished the final edits to it as I was coming out of chemo fog. These people were SO HELPFUL and I am so thankful for them! Extra thanks must be given to Amber Elliot of Alderwood Studio, who offered me so much advice and encouragement through this process (not to mention the amazing and very useful info I got from Pattern Writing Academy)! 

After many months, I am releasing the Swords pattern on January 19! Twenty-five percent of the proceeds will go to mutual aid for cancer patients forever. I hope you will check it out!