Five years ago today, Thursday, May 21, 2015, I heard those 3 dreaded words that changed my life forever:  You have cancer.

What a fabulous way to start a new week...getting up at the frosty crack of dawn to drive to Indy for a colonoscopy!

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I have a love/hate relationships with this place.

Community Health Cancer Center North.

I didn't know it was going to snow.

It is over.

It is OVER!

IT. IS. OVER!!!!!

This is the man of the day, the surgeon who's going to put me back together again.

Dr. Shekar Narayanan.

If you've been keeping up with my journey through cancerland, you know that I've been living with an ileostomy since my January 18 surgery to remove part of my rectum and lower colon.

The dreaded BAG!!!

I realized yesterday that I somehow or other, even though I shouted it from the housetops all last week, neglected to share with you my incredible, miraculous news...

I AM CANCER-FREE!!!

CANCER-FREE!!!!!!

(Disclaimer:  This post may very well fall under the "TMI" category for you...feel free to leave my blog today and come back tomorrow for a funner, friendlier topic. But in my desire to be transparent in my fight against rectal cancer and inform the masses, I decided to do this TMI post for anyone who's a bit curious....)

Meet Luicy.

Luicy literally helped save my life.

What would I ever do without my sisters?!

I am still among the living.

One week ago at this time, I was "under the knife," getting a cancerous tumor and its remains cut out of my bowels.