*One post a day for now to catch up on life changing events.
A prick from a needle can hurt, but to have a continuous poking feeling in my left breast was painful. I knew something was not right. I called a doctor and got an appointment the morning of December 15, 2015. I informed my work of my appointment, but thought I would return in the afternoon.
That day I woke up as if it was a normal day. My mom drove me to the doctor and we sat waiting. The only thought running through my head was 'maybe I bumped it...I am clumsy at times....' My name was called and I went in with the doctor. She listened to me describe the pain and did a physical breast exam. Confusion ran through my head. 'What was she doing? I'm 33...it's just pain.'She shared her belief of what she thought: BREAST CANCER!
She sent me immediately to a general surgeon in La Mesa who had me do ultrasound of the breast to determine if there was cancer and whether it was benign. However, there was a thick wall in the breast blocking the view, so he followed up with a biopsy and scheduled us with an oncologist for the next morning. 'Don't they know I work? Don't they realize I need to let my boss know?'
December 16, 2015, my mom took me to Sharp Grossmont Cancer Center to meet with the oncologist. She informed me that the biopsy was being used to evaluate for the pathology report, but that she wanted to go ahead and have me start treatment as soon as possible. The 17th, I went in for a PET scan, and the 18th I had a Port inserted in area of my right upper chest.
December 22, 2015 (two days before Christmas Eve), I received my first chemotherapy treatment. My oncologist approached me while I was in a chair and informed me she had received the final pathology report and that I had Metastatic (Stage 4) Breast Cancer. [FYI this means the breast cancer had spread to another part (my bones).]
The plan was treatment every three week. This was the start of a whole new life for me.
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