Lisa’s Story

Site created on February 28, 2018

Hi everyone, this is Lisa & this is my story. My story has been so overwhelming, and has been such an ordeal.

It's been a long road already but it's really just beginning. I have been diagnosed with Stage 3 triple negative, invasive ductal breast cancer in my right breast. The triple negative is one of the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. So scary! There is more than one cancerous tumor in the breast which means I will need to opt for a mastectomy and will also need to be treated with radiation. I have already had surgery to place the port in my left shoulder so I am already on chemotherapy treatment (started March 2nd) to help shrink the tumors before I have to have the surgery.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Lisa VerHagen

I had to have another frickin surgery, this time a gallbladder removal surgery on February 24th. Luckily my Aunties Kathy & Patsy were able to come down from Antigo to take me there & home. Love them! (Thank you so much again!!)
Just my luck though, the doc had a hard time getting my gallbladder out because there were so many stones inside of it. He was forced to make a larger incision at the top of my belly as well as the 3 others for the gastroscope part. He said the bile wasn’t even able to go into the gallbladder because the stones were blocking the tube so why even bother having the thing. 

The recovery went pretty good, it was painful at times but I survived. The worst part is that during this time is when Alyssa moved the rest of her stuff out for good. She moved it all out on Friday March 6th. It was not an easy day for me at all. When she gave me the key, she picked up Remy and then hugged me with him in between us, it was so hard and so sad, we both were crying. I seriously couldn’t believe she was actually leaving. I have never felt so lost. I was feeling self-destructive but didn’t care. And I know I shouldn’t have done this but I started drinking beer alone, all day long. So of course this stupid act led me to get even sadder and I ended up taking all of my lithium pills (30+) as well as some of the others in pill bottles that were not quite empty. But for some reason taking all those didn’t do “the job” & I actually woke up the next day but I was not doing good. OMG, I was throwing up & could barely walk or talk, I have super dark bruises all over my legs & they’re all swollen. It’s bad! It looks like someone beat the shit out of my legs & ankles. All I could do is sleep to feel normal again.
So, I don’t know what I was doing while those drugs were affecting me but it obviously wasn’t good. But I didn’t care at the time, I truly didn’t want to live anymore. I was just tired of life. And to tell you the truth every single day I’m still having a hard time with everything especially not having her here anymore. 
It’s going to take a long time to get back to me. :(
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