It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I have been fighting breast cancer since June 2020. To raise awareness I want to share some of my journey. 

I woke up one morning with pain in my right breast. I had recently started working out, so I thought nothing of it. The pain went away and so I never gave it a second thought. Breast cancer runs on both my mother and father's side. I did my due diligence and got genetic testing(BRCA) at 35. I was negative. So never in my wildest dreams or nightmares did I think this would happen to me.  Months went by and I never had pain again until Memorial Day 2020. I was at work and the pain scared me (and it takes a lot to scare me). This was something I never felt before. I hurried home after my shift and made a doctors appointment to see why I feeling this shooting pain.

The nurse practitioner comes in. She examines my breast and then leaves. Now her and my doctor come in. They are very quiet, but both are examining my breast going from side to side. They ask, when is the last time you did a self breast exam. My answer "Do you see the size of my breast, I feel stuff all the time".  Finally my doctor says, this is not good. She immediately goes to the right breast and says do you feel pain here, here, here, here. I am screaming yes to all. Tears are rolling down my face. What is going on?

She schedules me the next day for a mammogram and ultrasound. My anxiety is through the roof. All the bad things that could go wrong and constantly going through my mind. The next day I go for my mammogram. After the mammogram, I am rushed back for the ultrasound. I am trying to remain calm. I am watching the ultrasound. I don't really know what I am seeing, the images are still fresh in my mind. The doctor comes in and says, I want to see you in a few days for a biopsy. Something is definitely going on. I ask him to elaborate. He says, until the biopsy it could be nothing because you are young and breastfeed. Sir my child is almost 10. He said he didn't want to speculate until the biopsy. 

By the time, the biopsy rolled around I had scared myself so much, I couldn't breathe. I watched, I prayed, I even threw up before the procedure. It was quick, painless, but the wait for results was torture. Two days later, the phone rang. I HAVE BREAST CANCER. And my life forever changed..

Ladies, don't wait until you are 40 years of age because that is what insurance says to pay for a mammogram. Learn to do self breast exams. If 1 person in your family has breast cancer, get genetic testing. Insurance pays for it. And do not sleep if your testing is negative. There so many types, stages, and extras that go along with a diagnosis. If you have breast leakage, get it checked. 

Learn to listen to your body. If your body feels wrong, something is likely wrong.