I'd just turned 41 in April 2013 when I found a lump in my right breast on the Thursday night of Easter weekend. I had to wait until Monday morning to call my gynecologist's office to get an appointment. She saw me that day and I was sent for a diagnostic mammogram which showed no abnormalities. That was followed by an ultrasound and a needle core biopsy. I had been told that there was a "very minute area" that was probably removed completely by the biopsy.
April 17, 2013, I got the call. "I hate to do this over the phone ... " my doctor started. I had Invasive Lobular Carcinoma, just 10-15% of cases are this type of cancer. Because of the way it grows, it's difficult to detect.
I viewed my diagnosis as a job and it was my job to get better. While it wasn't going to be easy, my focus needed to be on the task at hand: being cancer free, whatever that took.
I had a bilateral mastectomy that revealed a 3.2 cm tumor. I was stage 3a because it had spread to my lymph nodes. I had 8 rounds of dose dense chemotherapy and 33 rounds of radiation, finishing treatment the first week of March 2014.
It was important to me to have as much normalcy in my life as possible through treatment so I continued to work, pretty much full time except for a day here or there that I needed to rest. I socialized when I could, went camping and kayaking and had fun with friends.
Having cancer has made me a better person. I embrace life more fully now and with a greater level of acceptance.
I laugh more, love more and live more.
Greenville, NC
