In November of 2012, I went to my General Practitioner for a full health workup. At the age of 46, I hadn’t had my first mammogram yet, so he scheduled one for me on December 4th. During the test, the technician saw a suspicious mass on my right breast, booked me for a biopsy on December 16th and an ultrasound December 18th.

About a week later while at work, I received a call from the doctor’s office, telling me that the results had come in. I went and sat in my car while I spoke with the nurse. She stated that I could make an appointment for the doctor to go over them in person or she could get him on the phone. While I would have much rather spoken with him face to face, I was extremely anxious to find out after beginning the process several weeks earlier. The waiting is hell but results come when they come. By nature I am a patient, positive person. But I needed to know right then because NOT KNOWING was wreaking havoc on me.

She placed me on hold as the call was put through. That hold seemed very long to me although it couldn’t have been more than a minute. The doctor came on the line and, after exchanging greetings, told me that the pathology was consistent with an invasive ductal carcinoma. I have breast cancer. He then explained that a lumpectomy may be performed versus a mastectomy and said he could see me right away to discuss all of this in person. I responded that I would be there within the hour. As the call ended, I sat in my car in disbelief, stunned, quietly sobbing. Over the prior weeks, my husband and I had numerous talks about the possible outcome of the tests, kicking solutions around as to how to deal with the worst possible diagnosis, juggling home and work while doing whatever it took to get through it. I collected myself for a few moments, and then sent him a text to call me as soon as he can. In seconds we were on the phone. While I struggled to maintain some composure, as soon as I uttered the words, “I have breast cancer,” I dissolve into tears. My husband of 21 years was initially silent. Then, as only he could, reassured me that we would get through this together.

A second biopsy was scheduled for December 26th. My older sister, who lives about two hours away, left her family on Christmas evening to drive up and take me to my 8:30 a.m. appointment. Once we got back home, she was my “nurse” - switching out the cold packs, keeping me hydrated, cooking and dealing with my three four-legged children - a Great Pyrenees named Gretchen, a German shepherd mix rescue, named Kobe and a Terrier mix rescue named Weezer! God bless my sister and her patience!!

I kicked off 2013 with my first visit to a local breast surgeon to whom I was referred by my employer, a two-year survivor who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. The surgeon reviewed my tests and stated that a lumpectomy would most likely be the procedure she would perform. I had no family history of breast cancer, but did have a second cousin with ovarian cancer, so she encouraged me to have a BRCA test.

On January 6th, I had a PEM (Positive Emission Mammography) scan. My breast surgeon called me two and a half weeks later with the results. The test revealed an additional mass that had initially been overlooked. Now a lumpectomy wasn’t really an option. My best chance of coming out of this out cancer-free was a skin-sparing mastectomy. I told her that I wanted to schedule the surgery as soon as possible, to which she replied, “there’s really no hurry – it isn’t spreading.” Hearing this response made me angry! When you know you have cancer, you just want it out. That is when I made the decision to find another doctor.

My employer’s sister has worked at M.D. Anderson for 20+ years and he offered to contact her to get me an appointment. While I was tempted, Houston is three hours away and I wanted to be close to home. In the meantime, I had three other people tell me they could help me get in to MDA, which I said I’d think about. I have been known to be a bit stubborn at times. After so many folks offering to help me be seen there, I still didn’t grasp that going there would give me the most peace of mind and be the best decision for me. I was seeing the difficulties with the travel back and forth instead of the benefits. Then, I had lunch with one of my dearest friends and shared my diagnosis with her. She is the one who actually “took the bull by the horns,” so to speak. She told me her boss, Ken, whom I’d met through my job in the apartment industry, had all kinds of contacts. Would I mind if she told him? I said, “No, go ahead.” The next morning, I have an email from him to Emma Jacobs asking if she could help me get an appointment. Within 24 hours, I had another email, forwarded by Emma, from Dr. Anthony Lucci, a breast surgeon at M.D. Anderson, stating he could see me within the week.

My first visit was on February 19th and my sister-in-law took off from work to take me since she had worked in the medical district for several years and was familiar with the area. The morning was spent in tests and the initial consultation with Dr. Lucci was to be the following day. On the 20th, my sister took the day off to be there for me during the consultations. Dr. Lucci immediately put us at ease with his depth of knowledge, kind manner and brilliant smile! I would not require any treatment prior to surgery. At that moment, I knew I had made the right decision. I was READY for this!
I underwent a skin-sparing mastectomy on March 26, 2013 and went home the next morning. In a couple of weeks I would learn whether or not chemotherapy, radiation or both, was recommended. The weekly visits for the expansions were difficult and uncomfortable, but I was grateful to get through them.

On April 11th, I had the first appointment with my oncologist. The pathology tests on the tumor had not yet come in. When they did, she could recommend a course of treatment. On May 3rd I received the results of the Oncotype DX testing which revealed that I was in a low risk category with an estimated 5-year recurrence rate of 10% while on concurrent tamoxifen. I would not need chemotherapy!

In September, my reconstruction surgery was performed. I have had no issues to speak of and am back to leading a normal life. I have never been one for tattoos, but I will be getting one in the coming months! My first post-surgery mammogram is scheduled for March 21st. I am thinking positive thoughts and ready to have those confirmed! On March 26th, I plan to have one hell of a celebration for the anniversary of my surgery! Thank you, Emma, for asking me to share my story. It has helped me, and I hope it will help others.