More silicone & saline than Dallas has seen in a long time!!

Looking down from the 11th floor onto the expo area

The expo area of the conference

The Party Bus..coming back from the Red River Dance Hall

This is as close as I got to the mechanical bull...kind of hard to see him..

Angela and I before dinner on Saturday

These are some of the gals from my online support group



Before I talk about the conference I want to say what a wonderful relief it was to hear that JD’s MRI came back clear on Friday…thanks to everyone that said an extra prayer for all of them last week!

The breast cancer conference was an incredible experience. There were over 800 attendees…probably between 150-200 were from my online support group. It was so great to finally meet so many of these women in person that I have talked to online since my diagnosis…everyone was just happy to have the chance to attend and wanted to relax and have fun together…kind of like a big family reunion or class reunion except I don’t think too many foobs are “flashed” at those kind of events like they were here….in private of course!!!

The medical sessions were great. I learned more about what my options are for revisions on my foobs and also had the chance to talk to a lot of other girls that had issues very similar to mine. On Sunday morning I attended a great session that focused on the stress and anxiety that young cancer patients experience and how very different our cancer experience is compared to someone diagnosed at a much older age. The speaker gave several examples of situations she had helped patients with and it just helps to know that my fears and anxieties are very normal in this type of situation.

They had an expo set up that we were able to attend in between sessions…there were all types of vendors selling pink ribbon stuff, medical stuff like lymphedema sleeves, wigs, and bras and there were all types of non profit organizations that offer support to breast cancer patients. There were also several companies there that provide the different medical tests like the genetic testing, mammograms, and Oncotype. I spent a great deal of time with one of the reps that works for Genomic Health that is the only company that provides the Oncotype test. This is the test that completely changed my treatment plan because my score came back so high (88 out of 100). Poor Dr. B. has had to go over the way this test is performed and what that meant about my tumor at least 10 times but this rep was able to pull out several slides to really help me understand the test procedure and my results…of course I had to ask if anyone had a score as high as mine….that 88 has always scared me to death. He was able to show me a graph and there have been very few women out of the thousands that have been tested that scored higher than me….2 had scores of 100….the most important thing for me to remember is that I am lucky that this fairly new test was available to me and that insurance approved for me to have it (my tumor did not meet the current criteria in size to be tested). If I had not had the test I would not have been given chemo and their results show I would have had over a 30% chance of having a recurrence due to the aggressiveness of the tumor. The rep was very interested in my case and asked me if I would be interested in helping them educate patients and healthcare providers on their services. There are still oncologists out there that base treatment decisions solely on tumor size and I am an example of how wrong that thought process could have been for me. He wants Dr. B. to contact them to go over my case and I am to contact them about using my story on their informational website/brochures, etc. I still wish I didn’t have that score of 88 but maybe my situation will convince more doctors to have newly diagnosed patients with VERY small tumors tested.

Obviously, the best part of the weekend was having the chance talk with other survivors. We were given a lot of time to do that and the Hilton Anatole is HUGE so there was always a group gathering somewhere. The Friday night excursion to the Red River Cowboy Dance Hall was very entertaining! I haven’t seen that many cowboys since Bret and I went to Oklahoma shortly after we were married. These folks take dancing way to serious! Later at night they kind of mixed things up and played some different types of music so everyone was able to get out and dance….At one point we probably had 25 survivors up on a long narrow stage gettin’ their groove on….what a sight. Many girls tried their luck with the mechanical bull…it was hysterical to watch them and that is what I did…I had no interest in taking a turn!

On Saturday night after dinner they had a DJ so again everyone had fun dancing…after that Patty Brisben (founder of Pure Romance) hosted a “Girl’s Night In” Party. I have never been to one of those parties but it was hysterical…she gave away lots of “toys” after explaining them. It was just so much fun to see everyone relaxing and having a great time.

A funny thing did happen on my way to Dallas. I bumped in to Dr. B at the Delta counter at the airport. The last time I had seen him was when I found the lump. He asked about how I was feeling and then asked some question about the incision…without even thinking I just pulled my shirt open to show him and he said “good, looks like it is doing ok”….right then I looked over his shoulder and saw some guy giving us the double take like what in the world is she doing flashing this guy here in the airport!! Ooops…I guess I am just so used to seeing him in his office and I am always willing to show anyone my new battle wounds….guess I should think twice before doing that!!

Every night was a late one and the mornings started too early but I wouldn’t change a thing about the weekend. I formed new friendships with women from all over the country and Canada…some were Stage I and some were Stage IV…some were newly diagnosed while others had been fighting for years but we all had that “connection” that forms an instant bond. I look forward to continuing to grow those relationships with these incredible women. I am already looking forward to the 2010 conference in Atlanta!