My Adventure Begins

MY ADVENURE BEGAN IN DECEMBER 2010 WHEN I FOUND A LUMP IN MY LEFT BREAST. I HAD BEEN FIGHTING A LOT OF DEPRESSION & HAD BEEN FEELING LIKE SOMETHING WAS WRONG, BUT COULDN'T QUITE PUT A FINGER ON WHAT IT WAS.   I WAS DUE FOR MY YEARLY MAMMOGRAM, BUT EXPECTED IT TO BE NEGATIVE, AS THERE IS NO HISTORY OF BREAST CANCER IN MY FAMILY AT ALL. I EVEN HAD A BIOPSY 2 YEARS AGO IN THE SAME BREAST THAT WAS NEGATIVE. I ALSO HAD A LIVER TRANSPLANT IN MAY OF 1999. I DIDN’T SMOKE, DIDN’T DRINK, NEVER USED DRUGS, NEVER HAD HEPATITIS AND THE ONLY CONCLUSION THEY CAME TO WAS THAT I HAD A GENETIC PREDISPOSISION FOR LIVER PROBLEMS (there’s that genetic thing again) ALL IT NEEDED WAS A TRIGGERING MECHANISM IN THE ENVIRONMENT TO GET IT GOING & THEY NEVER FIGURED OUT WHAT THAT TRIGGER HAD BEEN. MY ROOMATE & I WERE KNOWN AS THE “HAPPY TRANSPLANTS” TO STAFF AT CALIFORNIA PACIFIC MEDICAL CENTER IN SAN FRANCISCO WHERE OUR TRANSPLANTS HAD BEEN DONE. WE WERE SO GRATEFUL FOR THE SECOND CHANCE GOD HAD GIVEN US AT LIFE AND FOR THE TOUGH DECISION MADE BY THE FAMILY OF MY LIVER DONOR TO LET HIM GO AT 23 YEARS OLD BECAUSE OF A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT SO I COULD LIVE. I CAN’T IMAGINE HOW HARD THAT HAD TO BE FOR THEM. I RECOVERED WELL AND WAS EVENTUALLY ABLE TO RETURN TO “NORMAL LIFE” AND WORKING AS A PEDIATRIC NURSE. ANYWAY, I HAD ALREADY HAD MY BOUT WITH MAJOR LIFE THREATENING ILLNESS EARLY, WHILE IN MY FORTIES, SO I COULDN’T HAVE BREAST CANCER. I’D ALREADY PASSED MY MAJOR LIFE EVENT QUOTA.

ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS, JANIE OWER, DIED OF BREAST CANCER SEVERAL YEARS AGO, BUT SHE, LIKE ME, HAD MARRIED INTO THE FAMILY, & WE WERE NOT DIRECT BLOOD RELATIVES. HER MOM HAD SURVIVED BREAST CANCER MANY YEARS AGO, BUT I HAVE SINCE LEARNED THAT:

80% OF NEWLY DIAGNOSED BREAST CANCERS HAVE NO FAMILY LINK.

TO MAKE A LONG STORY ONLY SLIGHTLY SHORTER (I’ve been teased about being very wordy in writing, just ask my boss). I'VE BEEN POKED, PRODDED, RADIATED, CONSTIPATED (did I say that?), HAD RADIOACTIVE DYE INJECTED (I may even glow in the dark now), BEEN PUT THROUGH MACHINES & TUNNELS & FOUND THAT YES, THERE IS LIGHT AT THE END OF THAT "PET SCAN TUNNEL" (also, it was never made clear to me whether you are supposed to bring your pet to a pet scan or not?). THE WORST TEST TO ME WAS ACTUALLY THE MRI BECAUSE OF THE BONE JARRING NOISE WHEN YOU’RE INSIDE. I SWEAR THERE MUST HAVE BEEN 5 ANGRY GUYS WITH JACK HAMMERS GOING NONSTOP IN THERE AND I THINK THEY EACH HAD AN ANGRY WOODPECKER WITH THEM. I CAN’T PROVE IT, THOUGH, BECAUSE BY THE TIME THE TEST WAS OVER, THEY WERE GONE.

I HAVE ALSO BEEN BIOPSIED AND OFFICIALLY DIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER (AGGRESSIVE STAGE THREE DUCTILE CARCINOMA).  I KNOW THAT SOUNDS REALLY BAD, BUT I ALSO KNOW I’M GOING TO BE OK, WHATEVER THE OUTCOME. GOD IS WITH ME! HE WON’T EVER LEAVE ME. HE LOVES ME. HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR ME. HOW COULD I DO ANY LESS FOR HIM?