A
special friend created this blog for me so that I could keep my friends and
family updated on my cancer journey! Thank you sweet friend!
On
Friday, November 8th, I went in for my yearly mammogram. I was a few months
past due for it due to my neck surgery in June. I did the normal paperwork and
then was sequestered to the locker room to put my wonderful pink cape on, you
know the ones that only have one button on them and no arm holes. As I sat in the
room full of other woman waiting for this special occasion, I so did not want
to be there, but knew I had to get this done, as I did every year. After
waiting, for what seemed like eternity, I was finally called back. The tech did
the regular squashing and rearranging and squashing and rearranging and then
said she was done and to sit in the chair while she took a look at the
pictures. I asked her if all was okay and then she said that she didn't
quite get enough of my boob in the picture and needed to redo the pictures.
That's just great!! So, she squashed and
rearranged some more and then we were done. She escorted me
back to the locker room and told me that I would get an email on Monday
letting me know if everything was okay and that if something was wrong I would get a
phone call.
For
some reason, I just knew that email wasn't coming on Monday. Instead I got a
call about 6:30 p.m. from my regular doctor telling me that she had gotten the
results and that they were abnormal and I needed to go back in. So Tuesday
morning I called and asked if I could come in sometime before lunch. I got
there about noon and they did a sonogram on my right breast. I knew it wasn't
good when the tech went to get the radiologist and he came in to look at it and
told me that he was very worried about something in my right breast, but
that he didn't want me to worry! That's like putting the warm flan from LaFinca
Chiquita in front of me and telling me not to eat it....IT'S JUST NOT GOING TO
HAPPEN!
I was
told I needed to come for a biopsy, but they couldn't get me in until Monday,
the 18th. I am not a patient person if something is wrong. I want to fix it and
move on down the road. Don't like to drag anything out! So, I scheduled the
biopsy for Monday, the 18th, but told the scheduler (and also the sweetest
girl I have ever met) that if anyone cancels to call me I would come anytime.
Then I said, "who cancels their biopsy??" She said you would be
surprised, people cancel all the time because they don't want to know or they
don't have good insurance to cover it and can't pay for it. That makes me so
sad for a woman that is facing a possible cancer diagnosis. They were able to
move me up to Friday, the 15th and I went in for my biopsy. I had agreed to participate
in a study for a new laser sonogram machine that shows the blood flow and
oxygenation that the tumor has going to it, so they did that first. Then I was
taken to the next room to have the biopsy done. I used my deep breathing
techniques that I have learned to help my anxiety! I was told you are going to
feel a stick and a burn and that is exactly what I felt. Then I was told I was
going to hear a loud pop and a sting and that is what I heard and felt and then
another and then I was told we were done. I asked the radiologist what he
thought and he said he thought the same thing that he thought on Tuesday. That
it was cancer, but not to worry. They said the results would be there Monday at
the latest Tuesday.
Monday
the 18th came and went with no results. Then Tuesday morning about 10:00 a.m.
I received the call that I had Invasive
Ductal
Carcinoma. No matter how prepared I thought I was.......I was still in shock to
hear that I had CANCER! I was lucky enough to get in with the surgeon the very
next day the 20th.
I
walked in to the surgeon's office and looked around and wondered what kind of
cancer she has, and what about her. I wanted to ask each of them to hear their
story, but thought that was probably not the best idea! They were probably
wondering the same thing about me....or they probably weren't even thinking
about me! I was called back and waited only a few minutes before the surgeon
came in. She was just what I needed...she was laid back, very knowledgeable and
spent the next hour explaining everything to me and my husband.
My
cancer is Invasive, which means it can spread to other parts of my body, but it
is Stage 1, Class 2, so was caught early, but is an intermediate grade agressive cancer. She answered lots of questions
and gave me lots of information in the time I was there. My cancer is receptive
to estrogen blockers so I will for sure be on Tamoxifen for 10 years. I will
have 36 rounds of radiation for sure and if the cancer has spread to my lymph
nodes will have chemo.
Tomorrow
the 26th I will have a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy. This link will
explain the sentinel node biopsy
I am so grateful for each and every one of you, all of my friends and family, for the text messages, the cards, the emails, but mostly for the prayers! I trust that God already knows how this chapter of my life will be written and that brings me peace!
I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. Psalm 62:5
Gloria
