And the journey begins...

My journey begins with my sister-in-law.  In late 2011, my sister-in-law, Misty, found a lump in her boob (fyi, I will always refer to a breast as a boob since the word boob makes me kind of giggle!). She waited it out to see if it would go away and when it didn't, she made an appointment to see her doctor.  Her doctor recommended a mammogram and ultrasound.  The doctors were unsure of what the lump was exactly and scheduled her for a boob biopsy.  Misty was freaking out.  My mom was freaking out.  I was freaking out.  Everyone was freaking out.  We (the girls) all thought for sure the biopsy was going to come back as breast cancer.  The others (the boys) felt it was best to wait and see before we started going off the deep end.  Misty had her biopsy on Thursday, January 12 and found out on Friday, January 13 that she did not have breast cancer.  She has a fibroadenoma which are common in young women our age.  We were all super happy.

On Monday, January 16, I found a lump in my left boob.  Misty had sent me an email encouraging me to do a self exam of my boobs.  I don't know about other girls my age, but I can honestly say I didn't check my boobs as often as you are supposed to and when I did actually get around to it, I did a half ass job.  So, I thought I should put some time and effort into and what did I find?  Yup, a lump in my left boob. But, since we had just gone through Misty's experience, I thought it would be wise to have a professional take a look, or actually cop a feel! So, on Tuesday, January 24th, I walked in to see my Nurse Practitioner.  She felt the lump right away.  She suggested I should have a mammogram and an ultrasound.  I walked over to the Imaging Department to see when I could get them scheduled and much to my surprise they had appointments available on Thursday. 

Thursday rolled around and off I went to have my first mammogram.  I was scared and nervous especially when no one in the Imaging Department was my age.  I had the mammogram and holy crap, it hurt...bad...really...really...bad.  I had 3 images on my right boob and 6 on my left boob.  I really thought my boobs were going to explode.  The nurse assured me that would not happen.  After the mammogram, I went down the hall to have the ultrasound.  I was not looking forward to the cold gel (like the kind that was used for my ultrasounds while I was pregnant) being squeezed on to my boob, but how awesome was it when the gel was a nice warm temperature?  It was awesome!  The lump showed up on the ultrasound, but unfortunately the doctor who looked at the lump could not determine what the lump was and recommended a biopsy.  I had the biopsy scheduled for Thursday, February 2.

Omar and I arrived at the Imaging Department at 8am on Thursday, February 2.  I was scared, but being me, was trying not to show it.  I was trying to be strong.  The nurse came to get me to start the prep for the biopsy.  I started crying.  The procedure started and the nurses and doctor were all trying to keep my mind off of the procedure by asking me questions about my husband, my child, my birthing experience, and a bunch of random questions.  It made me laugh, but I couldn't help but stare at the lump on the screen as they took samples of it to send to the lab for testing.  I think deep down I knew then that I had breast cancer. 

After the procedure, I had to wait until Tuesday, February 7 between 5pm and 8pm to find out the results of the biopsy.  I tried to stay positive about everything, but I just knew it wasn't going to be good.  At 6:30pm, as I was on my way home from the gym, my doctor called me to tell me the results of the biopsy.  I safely pulled over to the side of the road since you can't legally drive and talk on the phone!  She told me the lump had come back positive.  She believes that it was caught early.  The doctor said I should thank my sister-in-law until the cows come home because if I hadn't found the lump when I did, in 6 months when the lump would have become very noticeable, it would have been a totally different story.

I have invasibe lobular breast cancer.  I will have surgery.  I will have some form of treatment.  But, most importantly, I will have a sense of humor.