Patricia Bergey Patee

I am mother to my son Jonathan my daughter Carrianne and the grandmother of  4 beautiful girls and two handsome boys.   My  story begins end of June.   I woke one morning to a lump in right breast (was not there when I went to bed).    But due to the type of work I do or did prior to this I was unloading a pallet there were several heavy boxes on top, two of them happen to fall and land on my breast so this is what I thought this was from.  I would take a shower let the hot water beat on it and do warm compresses thinking it would go away but after about a week didn’t go away it became very sore.   I didn’t have a primary doctor so I called around went to an urgent care and the urgent care doctor said by all means he would write the order for me to have a mammogram and an ultrasound so I had them done the next day, before the doctor came out I knew what it was he didn’t have to tell me.  
 I had already decided years ago that if anything ever happened and I ended up with cancer I was going to go to Cancer Treatment Center of America I like who they are and I like what they stand for.  It did surprise me because as far as I knew there was no history of cancer on either side of my family but then amazingly my son was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer around the same time as me,  who knew.  God knew. My new journey of self awareness and growth begins
I called CTCA, did they take new diagnosis and those with no known family history.   Yes,  breast cancer is one of their top research areas and they are number one in the states.  So we proceeded with all the paperwork and insurance.  Come to find out my insurance will not let me go to the facility that is about 30 minutes from me,  but this is common.  So my cancer home is CTCA is Phoenix.
I proceed to tell a few friends and my family - my 2 brothers and sister.   I had to try to explain to these people why I was going to Phoenix and not staying in Tulsa where there are good doctors and hospital it was very hard for them to understand, several of them got very upset with me but I prayed that they would understand and realize that I’m not being selfish and conceited and that this was this was about me Me and my body and my health and if I had to I would do it alone,  but I am not alone God is with me always.
My first few visits my sister-in-law Debi went with me. I knew she would hear things I wouldn’t and she did.  Biopsies, and test after test.   
We got results. Estrogen/progesterone receptor positive,  which is not that bad. Really any cancer is bad.  So my first decision was a lumpectomy. To try and shrink the tumor with chemo then surgery. If tumor not shrunk enough would do mastectomy with reconstruction. So next they decided I needed a biopsy of one lymph node in right arm pit and a guided needle biopsy with MRI to a spot seen on an MRI
Port put in and lymph node biopsy done
Waited for results of final two biopsies   While waiting for my results I was worrying about my son Jon   He is to have a Whipple procedure. Removal head of Pancreas, part of stomach, gallbladder, part of small and large intestine.  They also found tumor on bladder so that they will remove at time of surgery
One thing I have realized,  no reason to get angry or mad or try to make deals.  There is a reason for all things to happen. We do not know the whys or wherefores now.  That is what part of this new journey is about