On Monday January 16th, I was getting ready for work just like any regular day. As I was putting lotion on, I lifted my arm, and felt a small lump on my left breast. It felt like a pea - maybe even a little smaller. I usually do self checks but I would never lift my arm up. I have always done an annual physical at the GYN but because of my age I have never had a mammogram done. Being my crazy, overreacting self, I called and scheduled an appointment with my GYN for the following week. Everyone I mentioned it to said I was crazy and said it's probably just a cyst. When I saw my GYN on January 24th, he was not concerned and scheduled an ultrasound for me just to be certain. I went in Wednesday January 25th for an ultrasound at 7:30 a.m. thinking I would be in and out in 10 minutes. That 10 minutes turned into 6 hours. They saw a tumor and I had to get a biopsy done that day. They told me that they would know whether the tumor was cancerous by the end of the next day. Thursday night Jan 26th 7:30 p.m. my world changed forever.
I was diagnosed with stage 1 grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma. The size of the tumor was .5cm. They needed to run more tests over the weekend to see exactly what type of breast cancer I had. I decided over the weekend that I was going to get a double mastectomy regardless of those results. On Monday January 30th further tests results came back as to the type of cancer I had. I was diagnosed triple positive; Estrogen positive, Progesterone positive, and HER2 positive. The HER2 diagnosis was a surprise. This is deemed a fast growing cancer and altered what my treatment plan would be. I will be having the double mastectomy; however I am meeting with my oncologist (Dr. Fox at the University of Pennsylvania) Tuesday February 7th to determine whether I will do chemo before or after the surgery is complete as well as what my treatment plan will ultimately be. I will update my journal as a receive more information and once my treatment process begins.
Thank You for all for the overwhelming support from family, friends, co-workers etc. You have all been truly amazing in reaching out.
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