Here We Go Again...

On April 19th, 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Again.

I went for my yearly mammogram on Tuesday, April 14th (370 days from my last mammogram).  Honestly, it was the first year that Dane and I weren't nervous.

Amy, my mammogram tech, was awesome.  When we were done with all the images, she left the room.  I sent Dane a text saying that the pics were all done.  Then Amy came back in.  She needed more pictures.  Panic slowly sets in.  We took the next set of images.  She leaves the room again.  I text Dane...  Amy comes back in again and says that she needs another set of images on the right side.  I ask her if she found something...  She said that it's a small spot, but that she wanted one more image.  We might need an ultrasound.  The tears start falling.  I know what this means...I've done all this before.

We move to the ultrasound room.  She finds the spot right away, and I see it on the screen.  One large black hole in a sea of gray and white.  More tears.  I ask if she can bring Dane back.  Amy leaves to ask one of the doctors.  She comes back to tell me that it's really not allowed--too many half-dressed women in the various waiting rooms...  When the doctor (a different one than the one she asked) came in, I was a hot mess.  He asked if there was anything he could do, and I told him that I really needed my husband to be there.  I think he realized the state I was in, and he asked Amy to go get Dane.  When Dane got there, the doc used the ultrasound to find the black hole.  He said it was almost a centimeter in diameter.  He wanted me to come back the next morning for a biopsy.  Rats.

The next few days are pretty bad.  I found my brain going to some pretty dark places.  I'm pretty sure my face was fairly swollen and red most of the week...

We got the results on Friday...  Kay, our "Breast Health Navigator,"  gave us the results.  Dane and I knew what the results were going to be before we got them.  At that point, I had almost no tears left.  I only needed 1 tissue.  We talked for about an hour, and talked about all of our options.  We have made the decision to do a double mastectomy and reconstruction.  Although I really like my own boobs, I just can't handle the idea of them growing more cancer...

We met our surgeon, Dr. Peter Turk, on Monday.  Loved him.  Very friendly and personable.  Met our plastic surgeon, Dr. Peter Capizzi.  I liked him too, but honestly, the office experience was a little odd.  Don't get me wrong, all of the people in the office were great.  The office environment was more like a spa, with the low lights, lavender scent, and everyone talking in a low, quiet voice...  Oh yeah, and the fact that I had to take 4 or 5 "before" pictures of my boobs...  Very awkward, indeed!  Dane was quite disappointed that there were no "samples" to check out...

So, now we wait for the two surgeons to talk to the insurance company, and then to coordinate with each other.  We are hoping to hear something by the end of the week.  The best guess for the surgery is sometime in the middle of May.

Ok, so now you're all up to date!