A year ago in May, 2006, I discovered a lump in my breast. I thought I would just wait and see if the lump went away, or if it got larger. Over the next couple weeks I continued to check it and decided it wasn't going away.
My daughter Kathryn was getting married in June and I shoved the thought of cancer to the back of my mind until after the wedding.
In July I had a mammogram. The results were negative, no signs of cancer. That did not make me feel better, so I made an appointment with the doctor. She took a look and saw that my breast was disfigured. She then did an ultrasound and biopsy that came back positive for cancer.
Because of my medical history she made an appointment for me to have a breast MRI. Now that one came back with a positive reading. It showed a second mass near the first one. I was sent back for an MRI biopsy and by the time all the testing was done I was scheduled for surgery the last week of August.
I opted for a lumpectomy but the margin did not come back clean, so I opted for a second lumpectomy and had a re-excision at the end of September.
In October I met with the chemotherapy oncologist. He told me about the advantages of a mediport. I met with a vascular surgeon and had the port inserted in my upper chest.
After the healing, I began my chemotherapy in early November. That took me through the winter. It was a lonely winter. (I'll tell you more about that winter later).
I met with the radiation oncologist in March. He found that the mediport was in the wrong place for radiation therapy, so back to the vascular surgeon I went to have it removed. When that healed, I began the radiation treatments every day during the week. And today, I'm FINISHED.
Now I do the treatment myself each day by swallowing a pill.
I can do that.
Go to page of some of the terms I have used in this story of my Journey.
Humor is good. Click here for a chuckle.
Coming soon:
Another Story - A survivor of 20 years.
Yes, there are men other than Dr. Littles at Jeppesen Center.
What's Faith Got To Do With It? |
