In May of 2013 I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrostomy or VSG. Being overweight most of my life and with morbidity’s like Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and two little girls to chase after for years to come, I knew it was time to make a change! And that change saved my life in more ways than one!
In July I felt a lump in my right breast. I thought to myself, “Where did that BIG thing come from???” It was as if I went to bed the night before and awoke in the morning to what felt like a ping pong size ball under my nipple. I let it go for a week as I was in my “womanly time of the month”.
Needless to say, it didn’t go away. I saw my PCP on July 30th. Her response was she didn’t think it was anything, it was moveable and it hurt and itched, Breast Cancer usually doesn’t do that. So after justifying with my insurance company why they should cover a mammogram on a 39 year old woman I was set up with an appointment the next day. I was told that day by the Radiologist he was, “pretty sure there is Cancer in there.”
I think a lot of Cancer patients from what I have heard have the “Why Me?” phase… not me and I still haven’t over two months later. See for me I always knew thought and believed that I would have my turn with this wicked disease. For me it wasn’t “if”, but “when”. But at 39, five and a half years into a beautiful marriage and two young girls… I just wasn’t ready.
As my husband and I talked, we knew we needed to beat this beast and we needed to do it with confidence, determination and as my husband tells our girls and now me, “Walker’s never quit!” I have added in a little or a lot as some have thought, Humor. As the saying goes, “Attitude is everything!” and that was what we were going to use to win this fight.
Hot Springs, SD
