The events of the past few months were something that I never expected would happen to me, as most people think when it comes to life changing events that happen in a blink of an eye.
In October I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, a type of breast cancer. I’m a fairly private person, especially with things like this, and debated not sharing my story. Knowing that early detection is so important in things like this, it felt wrong not to share. It always seems like when it happens to someone you know, it can feel a little more real. I am very fortunate that it was caught early, and if I can help someone else catch it early by telling my story, who am I to keep it to myself.
In my scenario, since it was caught early and still on the small side, the choice of having a mastectomy or lumpectomy was up to me, as the success rates for my personal situation were the same. Based on what we knew, my team and I decided on a lumpectomy to remove the tumor and radiation to clear out any other bad cells. I wanted to know every little detail I could in order to be at peace knowing we made the best decision I could. I prayed on it and came to the conclusion that I would feel more comfortable if I had an MRI and if anything else came up, I would change the plan.
Well, being the stubborn human that I am, when the MRI came back with two more tumors, I still wanted to stick with the original plan. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that from October to November two more had developed. God quickly reminded me that this is not my plan, it’s His, and I needed to alter my plans and change my little lumpectomy route to a double mastectomy. We quickly rescheduled the surgery for a week later, the week of Thanksgiving.
The surgery was actually not nearly as bad as I worked it out to be in my mind. While no surgery is fun, and it’s all pretty gross, it was very doable and the pain wasn’t as bad as I anticipated. I was very fortunate and a local non-profit had brought me a lift chair to use while recovering. That was such a lifesaver!!!!
So now six weeks out of surgery life is feeling more normal. It’s amazing how much you want to do stuff when you can’t. I’ve never been more happy to be a taxi service, go to school events and cook dinner! Cleaning the bathrooms, not so much.
My next steps of treatment are still not set in stone. There’s one more test I’m waiting on, and that shows the likely hood of reoccurrence. If it comes back high, then they will want to treat with chemo. If it comes back low, which we think it will, then I’ll be able to move on from this chapter of my story.
And now, back to sewing and quilting and creating. I’ve missed that these past few months!!
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