In early 2012, I woke up on a Saturday morning and decided to do a self-check because of a conversation I had with a friend the night before. We were discussing the number of her coworkers being diagnosed with cancer.
My hand went straight to an area on my left breast that was tender to the touch and as I looked down, there was some discoloration on the skin. More importantly, I felt something under the skin.
The area wasn’t new to me because I had felt the tenderness in the shower. I thought it may have been caused by my 15-month-old son, who sometimes played a little rough. I never noticed the lump under the skin.
I looked at the laptop in my lap and realized I was running behind schedule to take my 6-year-old to karate class.
As women, we tend to place everyone else’s needs before our own.
After breakfast and getting my children dressed, I left home for karate practice and called my friend. I knew I had to call my gynecologist first thing Monday morning. I made the call and scheduled the appointment. I went to the appointment a few days later and the physician assistant confirmed there was a lump. I received a referral to Tops Comprehensive Breast Center in Kingwood, TX for my first mammogram at the age of 34.
The mammogram and ultrasound were completed, and I was asked to return for a biopsy. I did a few weeks later. Two weeks before my 35th birthday, I received the worst news ever — the biopsy was positive for breast cancer.
I began the process and did everything the doctors told me to do. It was after I started chemotherapy, that I was at home one day healing from the treatment and I realized I was thankful.
Thankful to God for allowing me to find the tumor in an early stage. Thankful for my family for taking care of my young children, washing, cooking, cleaning and taking me to my treatments. Thankful for the medical staff administering my chemo treatments. I just wanted to say thank you to all of them.
I completed my treatments, had a double mastectomy, went into remission but the same breast cancer cells metastasized in my right hip bone in 2014. I went through thirty days of radiation and another round of chemotherapy treatment. The side effects were a lot worse than the first time, but I made it through.
I am a Woman of Strength. It’s 2019 and I’m still in remission. Scans every six months, daily medications, and a monthly shot yet, I am still very grateful. I’m still standing and I still want to say Thank You to my support system.
