October 2013 I came home from work, got my boxers ready for their walk. I had my big male with me when he lunged for a squirrel and I felt and heard a pop come from my chest area. Pain was instant and I assumed I had sprained my pectoral or ripped the muscle. December came and I was still in pain and made the decision to go back to my doctor as it wasn't healing and the pain wasn't going away. So after Christmas I went in for an ultrasound on Jan 16. My appointment was at 7:30 and at 7:45 they were calling my husband and parents. At 10:00 I was having a mammogram done and at 2:30 was having a biopsy and was told they were putting a rush on the results and that I would know by 1 the next day, but I already knew. I knew it wasn't going to be good just from the expression on the radiologists face. 11:30 the next day my doctor called with the news. I met with my cousin, who is a surgeon, and I opted for a lumpectomy to start and we would go from there. Once out of surgery I was ecstatic that they got it all and felt the margins were good, but the popping I heard way back in October was my tumor being ripped off of my muscle wall and it was 4cm long and tubular which wasn't normal, but it did allow me to keep my breast. Once I met with my oncology team, I started 20 weeks of chemo and got to enjoy all that comes with that. I also had 37 radiation treatments and I've just started my 10 year hormone plan with two different drugs. Since I had estrogen positive and endometriosis it was imperative to stop all estrogen in my body. I'm very grateful for my amazing teams of doctors and for an amazing husband and family. I promised myself that I would be a blessing through this and I hope that's how I was perceived.

stefanie medawar
lynden, WA