 I felt so run down and the doctors all thought it was because of the surgery; then I started losing weight and had no appetite. By no appetite I mean I could hardly eat anything. So the love of my life Gary suggested that I get all the tests done that were due (or overdue). He saved my life. You see, I get my annual mammograms in November every year but missed it in 2007 due to the back injury and surgery. Every year they have been normal. I have had to go back for extra views but was always told everything was okay.
So I contacted my family doctor for an order for a mammogram and had it done. That evening my family doctor called me and told me I needed to get more views done and she would like me to get them done the next day. Now, like I mentioned before, I have had to go back for more views but never got a call from the doctor about it. I usually just got a letter from the radiology place. I went in the next day and had the "Spot Magnification" views done. I got all done, started to leave, and told the girls "see ya next year." The radiologist came out and chased me down the hall and asked if he could do an ultrasound, that he sees something and wants to make sure it's a cyst.
Now this whole time I am not worried; I honestly never thought about breast cancer. So I agreed to the ultrasound and he asked if I could come back tomorrow. I agreed. I returned the next day. He did the ultrasound and as I was leaving again, he came running after me and asked me to come back to the room. He proceeded to tell me what he saw is still there and is not cystic and recommended a biopsy as soon as I could get it done. I was still not concerned it's cancer.
After the radiologist made a phone call he gave me my films and told me to take them to the Breast Center and they would schedule everything. I showed up with my films; the lady took them and stated that they would be contacting me within a few days as the doctors needed time to look at the films to see if a biopsy was even warranted. I left (it takes me about 20 minutes to get home) and as I was coming in the door the phone was ringing. It was the Breast Center and I was thinking I forgot to give them some information or something. The lady on the other end of the phone said the doctors looked at my films and she needed to schedule me for a biopsy. This was a Friday; they wanted to do the biopsy on the following Monday (May 19th).
So I made the appointment and was still honestly thinking this was all nothing. As I think back now I must have just been in denial to myself as there were so many "red flags".
I had the biopsy done on May 19th and received a call from the radiologist the evening of May 20th that put my life on hold. I had breast cancer. I didn't really know much about breast cancer except women get it and I thought you had to have a family history, which turned out to be so false because I didn't have a family history.
My first thoughts were "Am I going to die? Will I see my grandkids grow up? Will I lose my hair?" After the diagnosis everything was a blur. I had appointments with the Breast Surgeon, Oncologist, Radiology Oncologist, and Thoracic Surgeon (to place a med port). At my referral appointment with the breast surgeon I found out I had 2 types of cancer - IDC (Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma) and DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In-Situ). It was ER+, HER-, Stage 1, so everything about it was good. As a matter of fact they called it "an old lady cancer". However, it was 2 cms. in size. I opted for a lumpectomy with Sentinel Node Biopsy. Surgery went well, there was no lymph node involvement and the margins were clear, but because of the size of the tumor they felt Chemotherapy was warranted. After surgery I started with Chemo which was, by the way, 5 days after my 49th birthday - Happy Birthday to me. I did 4 rounds of Cytoxan/ Taxotere every 3 weeks. Right before my second round I shaved my head as I noticed some hair falling out. I had very thick, to the middle of my back, wavy red hair.
While my beautician is shaving my head and the hair is falling to the floor, the tears were rolling down my face, falling to my shirt. Talk about devastating. Then my eyebrows and lashes fell out, then the rest of the body hair...GONE just like that. So, needless to say, there was a period of a few months that I felt like a freak and I was depressed. I did pretty well with the Chemo, only got sick once, and they ordered stronger anti-nausea meds and that took care of that. After Chemo I started radiation. Radiation was a little rougher than the Chemo, believe it or not. I had to take two breaks due to my skin burning. But I finished all treatment Christmas Eve - Merry Christmas to me.
I quit my job and was unemployed throughout treatment. Financially, cancer treatment is devastating. There are organizations out there to help but I never actually got the help until the end of my treatment. I was at the point where I was even unable to buy groceries. So, from the stress of the diagnosis and then the financial stress, it's a wonder I came out of all of this so well. Financially I am not even close to being okay but I am working on it. So when you are diagnosed with breast cancer, there is so much more to it than just a diagnosis of cancer. It affects so many aspects of your life.
I am very thankful throughout all of this. I had a very good man that took care of me. He went to every appointment (surgery, doctor's appointments, chemo appointments). He learned everything about chemo and side effects to watch for, what food would be good for me to eat, and made me special food if I wanted it. I had trouble with food tasting bad during Chemo, especially meat, so he did everything he could to make foods taste good enough for me to get some nourishment. He gave up a year of his life to care for me. He tried to keep me laughing, because as you know laughter is the best medicine, but when I cried, he held me and cried with me.
I want to say to every woman out there: Do your self breast exams, get your mammograms done, go to your doctors regularly because you think it will never happen to you. Well, I am proof that is just not true.
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