Chapter 1
May 2005, I've found a lump. My first lump ever. They take it seriously, my Mom had breast cancer. Biopsy is done, it was nothing they said just a cyst.
Chapter 2
May 2009, it's now 4 years later and I've found another lump, in the same spot as the 2005 biopsy. Nervous, life has been stressful this year. This time after doing a mammogram and sonogram they come back and say it's a cyst, you have fibrous breasts it's really nothing to worry about.
Chapter 3
It's March 2010, Ive found a bump (not a lump this time). It's in a different place and it feels different, right below the skin. I think back to the tests less than a year ago and what the doctor said. This bump/lump is different though, it hurts. I assumed it was like a hundred other little hurts I get throughout the year. Not really worrying.
Chapter 4
It's April 7, 2010 in the operating room, the doctor walks back to me, I'm on the table, he looks down and says "I'm sorry it's cancer". Guess I should have worried.
Chapter 5
It's two days later, meeting with the oncologist. I say "I found a lump last year". They'll send for the records.
Chapter 6
It's Stage 3c breast cancer...after x-rays, mri and PET scan we know it has spread...it made it outside the breast and there is so much cancer in the breast that a mastectomy in non-negotiable. I'm in shock. Every morning I wake up and hope that this is all a dream, but it isn't. Why can't my life be a episode of Dallas?
Chapter 7
It's now August 2011, chemo, radiation, mastectomy is all done. Two more surgeries to go. So very tired of everything it seems like life will never be normal again. I'm on the phone with the obgyn discussing an upcoming appointment and something says "ask them for your medical records from 2009" so I did. Doesn't Oprah always say you should follow your gut?
Chapter 8
It's 3 days later, I open the envelope from the obgyn, look at the sheet of paper with the radiologists report from the mammogram/sonogram in 2009 (one year before I'm diagnosed with cancer). I can't believe what I'm seeing, I start crying, no it's more like sobbing. My mind is racing all I can think is that this cannot be happening.
Stay tuned for Chapter 9 in the saga of "Slippin' Through The Cracks"....
