I was finally feeling physically and mentally ready to celebrate my radiation victory last night. Brandon and I went out for dinner at a lovely little Italian restaurant not far from home. We had a beautiful night for it! (We were also surrounded by sunflowers… tell me that isn’t a good sign 🌻).
While I’m still struggling with a lot of side effects (some of them continue to worsen), I was determined to do something special.
It’s been difficult to imagine celebrating anything when no one at my appointments has seemed to acknowledge much of the wins, but I’m beginning to understand that it’s truly no one’s responsibility but my own. I get to decide what counts as a win and how I choose to celebrate it✨ It would be nice if the staff cheered me on, but sadly that doesn’t seem like the world of healthcare right now.
Since I haven’t been able to ring the big bell at the clinic, I decided to buy myself a little hand bell, and will be using this as my “victory bell” whenever I feel like celebrating. It’s tiny, and seems kind of silly. But it also seems silly to not somehow acknowledge my triumphs. Honestly, each day of thriving with a Stage IV cancer diagnosis is a victory, so I know I should be acknowledging and celebrating more of my wins. I focus enough on the hard, uncertain, scary, and frustrating parts… this will be my attempt to bring more focus to the positives 🙏💜
Welcome! Thank you for being here! My name is Lauren Doyle. My husband and I have been married since 2013, and together since 2011. We have 2 wonderful kids and live in the Twin Cities suburbs. I have both a Master’s and a Doctorate and am a board-certified Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. I also have the student loans to prove it.
In 2019 our lives were turned upside down. Our daughter was born with a serious heart defect that required open heart surgery when she was just 5 days old. A couple weeks after her birth (while she was still in the hospital), I found a mass in my abdomen which required major emergency surgery to remove. At first, we were told it was just a fibroid; we learned about a week later that the mass was a rare and aggressive type of cancer – leiomyosarcoma. Through multiple surgeries and chemo, I have come out the other side, changed in many ways. I am now considered Stage IV, with a chemo-induced heart condition, and struggle with several other severe side effects from treatments.
I continue to work and live and love as best as I can. I will not claim to have all the answers about anything, but I can tell you I have learned a LOT in my 35+ years of life thus far. My passion has always been helping and educating people in whatever ways possible. I am hoping this blog will allow me to do that for a broader population beyond the patients I see at work, share my unique journey, and help keep friends and family in the loop along the way.
Thank you again for being here.
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Lauren MG Doyle 