How I will be spending my summer vacation
Some people will take trips to the beach for their summer vacation. Others will visit the mountains. Me? I will be spending the month of June on my porch recuperating from a double mastectomy and reconstruction. What a fun few months it's been...
It all started with a routine mammogram in mid-March which led to...
To say that the last couple of months have been a bit of a nightmare is an understatement, but there have been so many silver linings. The outpouring of love and support has been absolutely overwhelming. Thanks to all for your encouragement, kind words, and stories of survival (everyone seems to know someone that has gone/is going through this ~ it almost seems of epidemic proportions). It has meant so much and given me strength when I just wanted to crawl under a rock.
I will be well. This is a bump in the road, and I will handle whatever challenges await me. I need to carry on, and I shall. Tomorrow begins the "new normal."
It all started with a routine mammogram in mid-March which led to...
...additional mammos and ultrasounds, which led to...TOMORROW, when I have my surgery and begin the process of reconstruction (and resulting implants in a couple of months).
...biopsies on both breasts which revealed a very small, very early (3mm) tumor in my left breast, which led to...
...an MRI to be sure there were no other suspicious spots (there weren't - thank God), which led to...
...genetic testing because the tumor was not hormone-driven so there was no logical reason for it to be there, which led to...
...the test results showing that I was one of 8-10% of the population that had the BRCA1 gene that causes breast AND ovarian cancer (I should have bet the lottery...), which led to...
...the recommendation to have a double mastectomy (to remove the breast with the tumor [left] and the right breast as a preventative measure), plus testing of the lymph nodes to see if the cancer has spread, which is leading to...
To say that the last couple of months have been a bit of a nightmare is an understatement, but there have been so many silver linings. The outpouring of love and support has been absolutely overwhelming. Thanks to all for your encouragement, kind words, and stories of survival (everyone seems to know someone that has gone/is going through this ~ it almost seems of epidemic proportions). It has meant so much and given me strength when I just wanted to crawl under a rock.
I will be well. This is a bump in the road, and I will handle whatever challenges await me. I need to carry on, and I shall. Tomorrow begins the "new normal."
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