Not too long ago I was living what I always dreamed of - MY perfect life. I married the man of my dreams in January 2013 and we blended our family of 3 boys - 12, 13, 14. In August 2013 everything changed. Right was left - up was down.
I went to the Dr thinking I had a kidney stone. A CAT reviled that I had a rib lesion and an MRI was ordered. The MRI showed a large spinal tumor on T-12 and confirmed again the rib lesion. It was clear to my Dr. I had cancer but not clear if it was bone or coming from somewhere else. On August 28th I had a PET/CT scan. When your Dr. calls you 8 hours later after a PET/CT you can expect the news not to be awesome. She told me that the PET/CT showed Breast Cancer in my right breast and that it had already metastasized to my spine and rib. That diagnosis put me right at Stage 4 - the finish line if you will. Everything after that was very fast. September 4th was my biopsy. I spent 5 hours getting a Mammogram, ultrasound and core biopsies that were NOT fun. Two days later I received my 'official' diagnosis - Invasive ductile Breast Cancer. My cancer is Estrogen and Progesterone positive, but the good news is that I'm HER2 negative.
Believe it or not the actual Breast Cancer isn't the main concern for my doctors. It's the large spinal tumor that brought me to the Dr in the first place. The spinal tumor is 1MM from my spinal cord and was sitting on the nerves which was causing me intense pain. I felt like I was getting shocked every time I moved. Radiation started September 30th. My Radiologist Oncologist gave me 8 weeks worth of radiation in 5 days. It was a very aggressive approach and very necessary. I went in for 30 minutes for 5 days. I'm currently taking monthly Lupron shots and a nightly chemo pill to put my ovaries into a chemically induced menopause.
Rochester, NY
