The month of October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and my left breast decided to participate.

On Monday, October 10, I noticed extreme swelling, bruising and tenderness in my left breast.  I did what any woman with an internet connection would do and Googled my symptoms.  I definitely had four of the nine symptoms that were listed for inflammatory breast cancer.  I spent the next two days trying to talk myself into thinking that there was nothing to my symptoms.  After all, I had just been given a clear mammogram seven months earlier.  Plus out of town guests were coming the next weekend – who has time to screw around with doctors?  I also thought about our high insurance deductible – the money for testing would be coming out of our pocket.  I was looking forward to going to Nationals in March to see all my Memphis friends.  Unnecessary medical expenses would nix that plan in a hurry. And the final reason – being relatively new to town, I didn’t even have a doctor.

I made a conscious decision to wait a week, until after our out-of-town guests left, to make an appointment with a doctor.  Thankfully, I don’t take pressure well. Two days later I blurted out to my dear husband (DH) what was on my mind.  He convinced me to forget the guests, the costs and the bother and get myself to a doctor asap.  If it was  nothing, we would celebrate.

A call was made to a family medicine clinic and appointment booked with the first doctor who could see me, which was the following Thursday, October 20.  I told my new doctor her job was to tell me I was stupid and that I didn’t have cancer.  I am incredibly fortunate – she acted fast, smart and compassionately. Antibiotics and a blood test were ordered in case it was a mere infection.  In tandem with that, she booked a mammogram on Monday, the 24th,  and booked the first available appointment with a breast specialist on November 4.

My mammogram and subsequent sonogram raised enough suspicions that the radiologist called for biopsies. On Wednesday afternoon, November 3, DH and I returned from a gorgeous 5 mile hike to find a message on the machine from my primary care doctor.  I called her back to find out that the biopsy showed cancer cells.

I am incredibly fortunate that there is an accredited breast center just twenty minutes from my house.  The next day DH, our daughter Janet, and I spent four hours at that facility, meeting with an entire team of compassionate doctors and health care professionals. It turns out that after all that testing, the doctors learned what I found out three weeks earlier with a simple Google search – I have inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).

One of my doctors called IBC a sneaky cancer.  Rather than forming lumps that can be seen in mammograms, it forms in sheets, so it’s very hard to detect until the symptoms present themselves physically.  It is a very aggressive and fast moving cancer.  Thankfully, I have a team of doctors that are just as aggressive and fast moving.  These bastard cancer cells are going to have their little frat party crashed starting next Friday – I get my first infusion (slightly nicer word for chemo) treatment then.

While I know that this coming year is going to seriously suck while battling this insidious disease, there are so many positive things in my favor:

• I didn’t wait to go to the doctor, as was my first gut reaction.  My breast specialist told me that listening to my body, and getting to the doctor quickly was the best thing.
• Other than having uninvited guests residing in my body, I am extremely healthy.  This delighted my oncologist because she can pump in extremely powerful chemo cocktails.
• I am receiving amazing health care.  I have a team of professionals who I have utmost confidence in.  They have a game plan and I don’t feel like I have to second guess them.
• Most importantly, I have loving family and friends on both sides of the country.  I cannot express how much your prayers, positive thoughts and support mean to me.

Today, the sun is shining and  I am taking Arthur for a walk.  I will spend the afternoon playing swiss teams at the bridge club.  Today is a good day.