Ellyn Davidson’s Weblog

Awhile ago, I blogged about shop to earn as a fundraiser for Ta Ta Breast Cancer and yesterday I started to see my first month of results.  I’m very excited and realize that it doesn’t take a lot to start making great money for your organization.  I’ve participated in other fundraising programs similar to this and I see two major advantages with shop to earn.

1.       The percentages are usually much higher.

2.      You don’t need to sign up on the website to shop.  You simply go through a portal—just like any other website.  Your shopping is tracked just by clicking through. 

Log on to shoptoearn.net/breastcancer and take a look.  In the drop down menu, you can see all the stores.  And selecting the stores will take you directly to the store’s website (you have to click go and then click on the store’s logo but once you go through those steps, you’re done).  From there, you can use any coupons, free shipping or any other promotions.  A percentage will automatically come back to Ta Ta Breast Cancer.  All funds will go to the breast cancer 3-Day to support research and other breast cancer programs.  It’s super easy and doesn’t cost you anything extra to shop.  You can even order Contact Lenses, buy plane tickets and book hotel rooms.  As always, thanks for supporting my efforts to say goodbye to Breast Cancer forever.  And if you’re interested in joining our 3-Day team, we’d love to have you.    If you would like to set up your organization on Shop to Earn, just let me know and I’ll help you get started. 

In a previous post, I mentioned how lucky I was to have some really great docs throughout my journey and for my final post of 2008, I would like to recognize and thank these doctors for all that they did for me. 

The first one is Dr. Alvin Schoenberger.  Dr. Schoenberger was my OBGYN who, after delivering my second child, became my friend.  It was Dr. Schoenberger that refused to let a “probably benign cyst” go.  It was Dr. Schoenberger who called me the evening of my diagnosis, gave me his cell phone number and never let it go into voicemail for the next two weeks.  And it was Dr. Schoenberger who anxiously checked the Providence computer system all weekend long the weekend after my diagnosis to call me with the news of my clean bone scan, perfect chest x-ray and clean blood work.  His support was invaluable and for that, I am forever grateful. 

The second doctor I met the week after my diagnosis.  Within minutes of meeting him, I knew he would be my Plastic Surgeon.  Dr. Dan Sherbert is a kind, warm-hearted man with a big smile.  Not to mention a highly skilled surgeon (and I have some great looking breasts to prove it).  He took care of me through 2 surgeries, several expansions and my latest procedure–the new nippies (as my little guy calls them.  Yep, there are no secrets in my house.) 

The last doctor is my Oncologist, Dr. Jeffrey Margolis.  From the moment I met him, I liked him.  He was completely calm, told me I would do great and prepared me appropriately for everything.  And he’s also an absolute genius with a great reputation. 

All three of these men are wonderful physicians, skilled at their profession and also skilled at taking care of patients.  If you need an OBGYN, a Plastic Surgeon or an Oncologist in the Detroit area, you really don’t need to look any further.    

Last week, I finished my 2008 photo album on Shutterfly.  I have to say that site makes it super easy to make a really great holiday gift.  I loved putting the album together and reflecting on the year.  At the end of 2008, I couldn’t wait for 2009 to begin.  It meant the last chemo treatment, finishing surgeries and new hair growth.  My hair is crazy thick right now just as it always was.  I’m still growing it but trying to figure out which length I like the best.  The one positive side effect of losing all your hair is being able to try new hairstyles.  And the album will be a great reminder of the many hairstyles of 2008. 

It’s hard to believe this year is coming to an end.   My kids have grown, I’ve grown and we’ve all grown as a family.  They watched my hair grow, watched me recover from surgeries, watched me walk into closing ceremonies at the 3-day.  I watched all of them start a new school year, my youngest learn to ski and my oldest get braces.   This year brought a new level of normalcy and lots of happiness.  Here’s wishing all my friends and family a very happy 2009!

There’s been lots of talk in the BRCA community about screening embryos to find the ones without the BRCA mutation.   This is a process called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis.  This week, in Britian, a new baby will be born free of the BRCA mutation.  This is so interesting to me, and to be honest, I haven’t really fully developed an opinion.  On the one hand, thank goodness they didn’t do that 37 years ago because where would that leave me?  Yikes.  Yes I went through breast cancer and, no it wasn’t fun, but other than that, life is good.   But I suppose you can’t really think about it that way. 

OK so let’s think about it another way.  BRCA is only one risk factor of many for breast and other cancers.  Yes, it increases your risk substantially but so do lots of things and there’s no way to make sure a baby is born without a gene mutation that we’ve yet to discover.  And what if there are other worse things wrong with the embryo that we don’t even know about yet?  I tend to be a positive person so I’m going to go with the fact that these babies are going to live a long healthy life.  Just like tons of women with BRCA mutations.  And moving forward, diagnostics, screening and prevention of these diseases is only going to get better. 

But I get why someone would choose this option.  In the case of the woman in Britain, every woman on her husband’s side had breast cancer.  And as a woman about to conceive a baby, this can be particularly scary.   So really the bottom line with this post is that, I don’t have a real opinion one way or the other.  And I guess that’s good because this is a personal decision—one that I will fortunately never have to make.  I have my 3 beautiful children–with or without the mutation remains to be seen.    And as I’ve said before the only thing I can and will continue to do every day is to fight against cancer—to do my part so that it isn’t an issue for my children or any future generations.     

Yesterday I went back to my Dermatologist to get my stitches taken out.  At the same time, she shared the biopsy results with me.   The cells were categorized as dysplastic which means they were starting to turn.  So it was smart that I had it removed.  We didn’t need to do anything else and I was on my way.  I share this story with you because this is something that has been on my body my entire life.  Would the cells have eventually turned into a melanoma?  Hard to tell but I wasn’t willing to take the risk.  I’m so glad it’s gone and this experience makes me realize even more that I need to go with my gut feeling and once again be vigilant.  I do know that BRCA puts me at a slightly elevated risk of melanoma but the fact that I have light skin and blue eyes puts me at an even higher risk.  I’ll go back in a year, but in the meantime, I’ll make sure that my husband is taking a look at my back every couple months to see if there is anything unusual.  I’ve done cancer already and frankly I’m not interested in doing it again.  Don’t skip out on the Dermatologist and don’t ignore any sort of mole on your body.  Like breast cancer, melanoma can hit us young and is treatable and curable if caught early. 

I’ve had so many great doctors throughout my journey—not only skilled at their profession—but skilled at things that I consider nearly as important.  When going through cancer, you tend to spend a lot of time with certain docs.  I considered myself so lucky that I found great doctors really quickly.  This was largely thanks to friends of mine who had already traveled down this path.   
 
But that’s not exactly what this post is about.  Last week, I blogged about my fainting episode at the Dermatologist, but I neglected to mention what I think is probably the funniest part.  As I’m on my way passing out, Dr. Joanna Gammons asked me if I normally pee when I wake up from fainting.  FYI—this is not totally uncommon, and I actually did use to do this but I haven’t in awhile.  So I told her that.  Then she told me I could wear her workout clothes home in case I did.  Is it me, or is that going totally above or beyond?  I must put in a huge recommendation for Dr. Gammons and her partner Dr. Koprince.  I’ve been incredibly impressed but this clearly takes the cake.  If you are looking for a Dermatologist in Royal Oak, you must check them out.  And if you happen to pass out—no worries, Dr. Gammons has you covered.

I’ve had a freckle on my right foot my entire life.  It really hadn’t changed too much but it was bigger and a little bit darker than the million other freckles on my body and I decided it didn’t need to be there anymore.  I’m on the “if I don’t need it, and it could turn into something bad someday, get rid of it” plan.  So that’s what I did yesterday.  Both the doctor and nurse told me it would hurt.  But I told them how tough I am now that I’ve been through cancer treatment—nothing phases me anymore.  I used to be a fainter but I don’t anymore, and I’m so proud of myself for overcoming this.  And as I was going on about my thick skin and she was stitching me up, I started to feel light headed and then I fainted.  OOPS.  Guess I’m not quite over that part of my life.

Later in the day, I picked up 6 kids from school and told them about my fainting.  I thought the whole thing was pretty funny and so did they.  Somehow the conversation turned to the exam that men get when they turn 40.  Something about a greeting card that her parents bought for her uncle’s 40^th birthday.  I don’t remember it exactly but it was about a doctor losing a watch in a man’s butt.  The kids thought this was absolutely hilarious but the poor 6 year old boys in the car were terrified. 

Later that evening we were talking again about the 40 year old exam with Jon at dinner.  I calmed my son and told him not to worry too much.  Women have to go through much worse.  My daughter said “Yeah, like breast cancer.” She made this comment so matter-of-factly like it was just part of life.  Pretty amazing.  I told her that’s why I work so hard to raise money so she doesn’t ever have breast cancer.  She thought that was cool but didn’t seem overly concerned either way. 

Among the big winners at last night’s D-Show (Detroit’s prestigious advertising awards) were Dodge, Kaiser Permanente, Ford, Lincoln and Ellyn Davidson. Yep, I got my chance at being a client right alongside some of the bigger advertising clients in the Detroit area. Melissa Weber—my friend, colleague at Brogan & Partners, 3-day team walker and tent mate named Ta Ta Breast Cancer. And Dave Ryan, our wonderful art director created the perfect shirt. We loved the shirts and got tons of compliments and apparently the creative industry in Detroit agreed. This is completely the icing on the most beautiful cake. Ta Ta Breast Cancer raised nearly $87,000 with 25 walkers. We finished in the top 10 fundraisers and had a fantastic weekend. We are signed up and ready to go for 09.  Won’t you join us?

We actually printed on t-shirts but this was the initial layout

I inherited my BRCA mutation from my father who inherited it from his mother.  This was confirmed when I had my genetic test which determined I had the exact same mutation as my father’s cousins on his mother’s side.  So how did my grandmother make it to nearly 70 without breast, ovarian or any other cancer?  Was it simply luck that she beat the odds?  After all, you only have an 87% lifetime risk of breast cancer so there is still a very small chance that you can live a long life without ever developing the disease?  And sure ovarian cancer is a smaller risk but still significant. 

Hmmm, my grandmother was a heavy smoker, worked in a photography studio with lots of chemicals, ate poorly, was always overweight and went 30 years without going to a dentist.  Was this the key?  And me, I’m not perfect but I certainly took care of myself, like most of the young woman I know who have battled this disease.  So scientists and researchers are looking into this specific issue.  Why have some Ashkenazi Jewish women with the BRCA mutation managed to escape this disease?   If they can find answers to these questions, they can begin to figure out how to prevent cancer (outside of the more drastic preventative measures available today) in women with a BRCA mutation.