I broke my leg and tore my meniscus at work in January 2019.  I had to wait for my tibia to heal before I could go through surgery.  I had surgery in May 2019 and the Ortho found that my cartilage had also been severely damaged. He then performed microfracture surgery (drilled holes in my femur in an attempt to get the fluid to drain in my knee to form superclot).  The surgery did not work and in August 2019 was informed I had bone marrow edema and needed another surgery to fix that and my cartilage.   In the meantime I made appointments to full fill my requirements with insurance.  A mammogram was one of those things.  On August 9th I had my mammogram. On August 12th I received a phone call informing me that I needed further testing and August 14th I had further mammogram and ultrasound testing. I was then told I needed a biopsy, which happened on August 16th.  On August 20th I received the phone call that I dreaded most.....I have breast cancer.   I found I have stage 1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  The next few weeks were a blur.  I had appointments with plastic surgeons and breast surgeons and oncologists to formulate a plan for treatment.  I also stressed my job and spoke to key figures to make sure I'm doing everything correct so as not to lose my job.  

So now the plan...on September 26th I am having surgery to perform a unilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction.  Because I am doing mastectomy ...I will not have to do radiation unless cancer is found in my lymph nodes.  I will not know that until after my surgery on the 26th.  I will then have to do chemo and radiation.  So fingers crossed we caught it early enough.  So that's my beginning journey.  Just beginning