In February of 2012 on my 34th birthday I became engaged to my boyfriend of three years. I couldn’t have been happier. In the month of March, while packing to leave for a vacation I noticed a lump on my right breast. I dismissed it immediately, telling myself that I was too young and far too healthy to be diagnosed with anything serious. I ate healthy and I worked out daily, sometimes twice a day.
The date was June 1st, and I was out trying to find the perfect jewelry for my wedding. That afternoon, the Doctor called and told me I had breast cancer. The next few days were a blur of doctor visits and an abundance of new information with words that I had no clue of their meaning.
I had stage 3 breast cancer. This would mean that surgery, chemotherapy and radiation would be in my near future. The doctors agreed that I would be able to go ahead with my wedding plans but a honeymoon would not be anywhere tropical. It would be spent in the hospital on the operating table having surgery.
On July 14th I had a beautiful wedding filled with people who loved and supported me. On July 19th I went in for a double mastectomy and it was then that I realized instead of starting this incredible new life as a wife I would be starting a new life as a cancer patient. No one could have prepared me for the mental and physical war chemotherapy would wage on my mind, body and spirit.
Not to mention I was a newlywed and I couldn’t stand the fact that I had to watch myself physically deteriorate in front of my new husband. Nothing he could say would change the fact that I was bald and barely even resembled the girl he married just a few months earlier.
November 28th was my last chemo treatment; I had a break for six weeks before I started radiation.
It has now been a little over a year since my journey with breast cancer began.
Island Lake, IL
