Ashley Cunningham

First post: Jun 19, 2020 Latest post: Mar 12, 2023
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So yeah, I was diagnosed Tuesday with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. It is an extremely rare form of breast cancer. In fact, of all women who develop breast cancer, only 3-5% are inflammatory. It doesn’t present like any other breast cancer. There are no lumps. Just all of a sudden swelling, redness, itching, and sharp pains. It often goes undiagnosed because it looks like an infection and a lot of doctors haven’t seen it.
Luckily, I’m a nurse.
So I got in right away. Of course, being the overachiever I am, even my rare breast cancer didn’t present like it was supposed to. So 6 weeks, a mammogram, ultrasound, MRI, MRI guided biopsy, and an excisional biopsy later, I finally have my diagnosis.
At this point I’m not upset. I’m not wild about what’s to come but, I’m relieved we can finally move forward and fight this bitch! Finally, I’m not a hypochondriac nurse and have proof I’m not crazy.
This is the most aggressive breast cancer (see overachiever😝) so I will have chemo starting July 7. When chemo is complete and my infection risk goes down some time in the fall, I will have a modified ratical mastectomy followed by radiation.
So...yeah. That’s my life for the next year. Hopefully, we’ll come out the other end stronger and more bad ass than ever!
Some people have asked if there are items I need rather than meals. There are several things that would help with chemo, mastectomy, and radiation. I made a list of things on Amazon. That way I don’t get duplicates. Here is the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2NHVTQ5H6KI7O?ref_=wl_share

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