Part I: What?

A few weeks ago I felt something different in my breast. It was hard to describe it as a lump because I could not feel all around it. It just seemed to have an edge that I had not felt before. I was doubting myself until I told my husband a few days later. He felt it immediately. So, I found a doctor’s office with a PA that could see me that day. The PA felt it too and immediately filled out a referral for a mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy, if warranted.  Long story short, after mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy, I received pathology results showing a decent amount of DCIS (aka pre-cancer or Stage 1, not yet invasive) and a small amount of invasive cancer. But at that point my lymph nodes looked okay.  Met with a breast surgeon and a plastic surgeon on the same day, November 1. A mastectomy of the right breast was clearly warranted, but given my family history and the years I have spent thinking of what I would do if this time ever came, I made it clear that I wanted a double mastectomy.  On November 3 the breast surgeon’s office called and asked if I could be ready in time for surgery on November 7. 

Something you may not know about me - I have ADD. I struggle with long-term unstructured projects. But give me an urgent deadline and I will fly through a to-do list. By the morning of November 7, my house was as clean as it has been since we moved in (random piles of clutter gone, kids clothing labeled so other caregivers could dress, launder and put them away properly) and my bedroom was set up for my convalescence (new bed, rearranged furniture so bed faces TV, fire stick finally hooked up, and a stash of fiction, nonfiction, coloring books, pencils and markers).  Thank the Lord for Amazon Prime  

It is late, so that will have to be Part I of my #badboobs saga. I’ll try to fill in tomorrow with the surgery, my recovery so far and my latest pathology. Quick preview: my cancer is “feisty”.