By Dani Romano
I took a picture of my healing body today. I had my medi-port (IV port) taken out three mornings ago. (I thanked my port in pre-op before it was removed.) The picture I took just now shows a multitude of colors as the bruising spreads from where the port used to be. Much of it is hidden under the suture cover, which is also covered with medical glue. It is an interesting array of colors. It would probably gross some people out. To me it is beautiful. It is my time to heal.
Cancer “recovery” (for lack of a better word) is a difficult time and most would probably say, “You healed from a list of things over the last two years, Dani; why do you say NOW is your time to heal?” Sure. It has been a long two years, with many, many things to heal from. And obvious physical things: IV chemotherapy, immunotherapy, procedures, hospitalizations, surgery, radiation, oral chemo. But I did not and still do not consider that I was healing after any of those things. Let me explain.
While I was undergoing a long course of radiation, it got to the point where my skin was falling off, like in small chunks in the shower. Sure the skin started to grow back and the colors lightened and lightened, but at no time while crying over what was left on the shower floor did I feel like, “Wow, look at that, I am healing!” IV chemo, immunotherapy, and oral chemo (well, what I was able to tolerate before my liver caused a quick stop) destroyed many things in my body, and I am now in the process of seeing a myriad of doctors to try to fix as much of that as I can, so did I see myself healing from that? Nope. But now, as I pass my two-year mark of my diagnosis date and have had my port removed, I see this beautiful bruising changing each day and say, “It is now finally, FINALLY, my time to HEAL.”
Read More:
On the Podcast: Breast Cancer Conversations
11 Years of Survivorship: A Breast Cancer Survivor’s Story
Share your story, poetry, or art:
SurvivingBreastCancer.org Resources & Support: