Out on a Limb: Navigating a Double Diagnosis of Blood Cancer and Breast Cancer

…Don’t want any regrets in my life

I’m going to talk this whole world in stride

Living for every breath I can

So, I’m going out on a limb

Going out on a limb…

One of the first songs I wrote shortly after my dual cancer diagnosis was called "Out on a Limb." When I wrote the song, I used a tree as a metaphor for life. The limbs represented trying to do everything you can with the time you have on this earth. The premise is that life is too short, and you need to live life to the fullest. I nicknamed it “my bucket list” song.

Individuals with cancer know all too well that life is short. I am no exception.

Navigating a double diagnosis

In 2016, I received diagnoses of both a rare blood cancer called polycythemia vera, or PV, and invasive ductal carcinoma, or breast cancer. The breast cancer I wasn’t too surprised about since my mom had it twice. However, I sure didn’t expect to have PV, a cancer I had never heard of before my diagnosis.

I went to my healthcare provider for an annual physical, and he noticed all my blood levels were elevated. At the time, my blood levels, although high, weren’t critical. The hematologist decided a “wait and see” option was the best. I was supposed to follow up in three months. By that time, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The long road to management

The next year was a challenge with chemo, surgeries, medications, labs, bone marrow biopsies, and more appointments than I care to remember.

Thankfully, after the first year, things slowed down medically. Now as of my writing this at least eight years later, there is "no evidence of disease" with the breast cancer and the PV is being managed effectively with medication.

Facing uncertainties about the future

These diagnoses left an uncertainty in my life. My mind was and still is full of questions. I often wished I had a crystal ball to predict the future.

Will the breast cancer show its ugly head again? Will the PV morph into a more serious form of blood cancer? How much time do I have? What does the future hold? Will I be around to see my kids graduate and get married? Will I be able to do that European tour I had always wanted to do?

Redefining what it means to live fully

Although I thought about it occasionally when I received my diagnoses, I never officially made a bucket list. The "Out on a Limb" song is more fiction than fact to make it flow and create a good rhyming pattern. For example, I’ve never had a desire to go to Mardi Gras to throw beads in the air. I also have no interest in ringing in the New Year at Times Square. Nope, nope, nope — not after hearing about the bathroom situation. However, writing this song did put things into perspective.

Nobody knows how long we have. Regardless, I’m going to continue to live life to the fullest and climb out on that limb.

To quote my song:

…I’m leaving the safety of the trunk beneath

Climbing way up high in the apple tree

Following the branches from the root

Cross the limb and reach for the fruit…