The Begining

On March 23, 2010, I went in for my routine mammogram. That is the one test I never played around with. My family history is to strong for me to ignore. In 1983 both of my grandmothers were diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Sadly My dad's mom lost her fight in 1988. My mom's mom beat it and went on to be a 27 year survivor. She passed at age of 92 peacefully in her sleep. My Great Aunt Rose had ovarian cancer and we lost her in the late 90's. My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at 52. Sadly she lost her fight 18 months later. With this history, how could I not get an annual mammogram?

I always knew I would be dealing with cancer one day. I just figured it would be 10 years or so from now, When the kids were in college or living out on their own. Not a little over a month past my 40th birthday. Yes that's right... I have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer, a journey I did not want to make.

So how it begins......

March 23, 2010

I had my annual mammogram scheduled. I always try to allow a lot of time for it as they never seem to go smoothly. They squish and squish and take their pictures and then I sit and wait for them to be reviewed. As I have very dense breast tissue they usually want second prints taken of various areas. Usually after that I talk with the doc. Ok things are fine. See you next year. That was not the case this time. This time they zoom in on an area to check and decide that they see some calcification and while its probably nothing we would like to do a biopsy of the area. So they sent me out to get some lunch and be back by 1:30 so they could do the biopsy. I say ok and go on my way to get some food. (What was I going to say no?) So I get back and they do their thing, no big deal really. I am told to come back on Thurs after 3. they should have the results by then. I say fine and head home to meet the kids.

March 24, 2010

I get a phone call in the morning. Its Dr E. (The doc who preformed the Biopsy). The lab called her ASAP with the results from my biopsy. It was a positive result for cancer. She was putting together my Mammograms and reports for me to pick up this afternoon and had already had a referral to a breast surgeon for me and a tentative appointment for the next day. My head is starting to spin. I was so not expecting that call. I was figuring they were going to say it was nothing and life goes on. They would just keep an eye on it. Steve came home early, Norma (MIL) came up and began driving me a bit insane. (I know she's just trying to help). Of course we had to tell the kids as they were trying to figure out why everyone was home. We had their exhibit night at their school that night as well. I told all their teachers so they were aware of what was happening at home.

March 25th.

I meet with Dr. G. It was all still raw. I did not know what I was in for. I always said that if they found anything I would just cut them off but saying it and being faced with the reality were two different things. Dr G was very nice and I liked him a lot, however I wasn't totally thrilled with the hospital he works out of. But I did get lots of information. He basically told me I had two options. Lumpectomy with radiation or mastectomy. He also drew blood for the BRCA testing. If I tested positive than he would recommend a double mastectomy (BMX) as well as a ooporectomy (removal of the ovaries and tubes). He also gave me the info that he would place me at Stage 1b. I have invasive ductal carcubina (IDC) That is 6mm in size. I thanked him for his time and went home and started to research. That's what I did when I found out I was pregnant with 3, and I began to educate myself about what is out there.