The Beginning

I got the idea to blog from a couple of blogs I read. My blog heros are Jessica, my former sister in law and wonderful mother to my kids' cousins Evan and Calum, and Casey her BFF and a very great mother of triplet girls. My journey though is a little, well a LOT different from theirs.

On Thursday, July 31, 2008 I was told I have stage zero breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy a week before that for a lump and what was originally thought of as pre-cancerous cells. I will now have to have more surgery and radiation treatments and take pills for 2 years. More on that later when I get more information. My dr. is gone until the 15th and I will find out more details then.

This started in May when I had an itch on my boob. LOL Yes, of course I scratched it and when I did I felt something funny. At first I thought it was a mosquito bite but when I pushed harder I could tell it was much much more than that. So I made me an appointment with Kaiser where I had a mammogram and a ultrasound on May 21st in Modesto. After all this was done and the radiologist went over the reports (the MALE radiologist) he said yes, something was there (duh!) but with my age and their being no history of breast cancer in my family there was really nothing we should do about it. He said we should check back in 6 months. When I questioned that, he said we could check back in 3 months. I begrudginly agreed and left for home. Thinking back I should have asked him what he would have done had he found a strange lump on one or both of his nuts, but you know, hindsite and all. LOL

All the way home I had this nagging feeling in my stomach that this just wasn't the right thing to do. So the next day I discussed it with my friend/supervisor Peggy. She said if I wasn't comfortable I should do what I felt was right. So I get on the phone and make another appointmnet. This would set me off on a journey with people who I finally felt were understanding and wanting to help with my heath. The nurse practicioner who set me up with Dr. Grace Tay my surgeon. I feel I was led to her by some higher power because she was understanding, is pleasant, and very funny.

I finally did a needle biopsy and waited for the results. I was told it would be a week. Well 5 days later I get my results and was told it was not cancer but pre-cancerous cells that would need to be removed. This relieved me somewhat... But surgery!!! That freaked me out a bit, but I want to be healthy.

Well on Thursday, July 24, 2008 I go to Kaiser to have my lumpectomy. The whole experience went great as far as surgery can go. The desk clerks at the outpatient OR department were great. I had my own personal nurse Marie. She was a hoot!!! She made me feel so comfortable, she explained everything she did before she did it, she made me so comfortable, she told me stories to keep my mind of what was going on and kept me generally relaxed. And most people who know me know that I HATE dr.s and hospitals in general and am rarely relaxed even when it was just to take my kids to a routine appointment.

I'm admittedly not too good with asking for help or with bothering people with something when I think I can deal with it myself. I am very independent and that has helped me through so much in my life. It's hard to let go of that and be what I consider "needy". So I don't think I will do that. LOL But I do feel I have to have an outlet of some type, so that is what this will be.

Well this is very long so I'm going to finish up and continue later. Please visit my blog as much as you want and don't hesitate to comment. I have a journey that I am embarking on and I'm hoping blogging it will be cathartic for me and just give me an outlet to what I'm going through. So join me and see where it leads....