My Oncologist

Hi guys. As I mentioned in my last email, these updates I send are kinda like therapy for me. I know not all the info is stuff you necessarily want to know and may be tmi but it helps me :)

So Thurs night I had a lil scare. My right breast started bleeding and wouldn't stop. I didn't know if I should go to the ER. John was here and calmed me down. The next day I went to the doc and she said as disgusting as it was, it was normal. It was old blood trying to remove itself from my body. I was just freaking out because it started bleeding out of nowhere and would not stop. I saw her today and she said I look great. I'm not as bruised but still pretty sore. She said  could last up to a month.

As for my Oncologist (the doctor who tells me what chemo and radiation I need)...she's very well-known. She was on Oprah and Dr. Oz and was Christina Applegate's Oncologist, so I am in good hands- I see her on Feb 7.

John and I are gonna look at more wigs today or tomorrow. Once I nail down a wig shop, I'll send out an email and if you would like to/can come, I'd love to have you there. Perhaps you can try on a wig of your own!

Post Lumpectomy

I'm finally out of surgery. Been there since 7 am. Super sore and groggy but glad its done. They did find cancer in my lymph node, which just means I need chemo, but I'm prepared. I  can wait 12 weeks to start. I'm gonna chop my hair super short, ala Anne Hathaway to prepare myself.

Thank you for all your support and love. It really helped, I should be up and around in the next week or so and back to work on the 2nd.

I will let you know when i start chemo.

My Diagnosis

On November 27, 2012, lil 38-year old me was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was beside myself. I have no family history, and I am a young chick. Almost a year ago to the date, the mass was found by my gyno. She didn't seem concerned. Said it felt like a cyst. So I got an ultrasound. The radiologist wasn't concerned either and told me to come back in 4 months. 4 months go by and I go back in and it had grown a tiny bit but not enough to worry him and told me to come back in 6 months later. 6 months later was right before Thanksgiving and right after Thanksgiving is when I got the call while I was at work that there were cancer cells found.  I was sick to my stomach. What was my next step? Was I going to die?? The worst part of all of this was calling my family and boyfriend to tell them the news. It was a very scary and sad day.

The next day I had an appointment with the surgeon who changed my life, Dr. Leslie Memsic. I walked in there in tears and the first words out of her mouth were, "we cure cancer here". She was so positive and reassuring and I knew she was going to be my surgeon.

About 2 weeks later, I was in the operating room, getting the tumor removed. I also had a benign mass removed from my right breast, along with the sentinel lymph nodes under each arm. The left side was the cancer side, and unfortunately it had spread to the sentinel node. But still not to fret, it can be cured, it just means I'd meed chemo and radiation.

One thing at a time though. I was focused on the surgery and healing from that.  I was very bruised and very sore but I could handle it. I had 12 weeks from the date to start and chemo and decided I would begin after my cousin's wedding on Feb 17.

That Wednesday I tried to have surgery to have a port put in my chest, but my blood pressure went down so much, they had to cease surgery an wake me up. The next day was my first treatment, sans port and they had to go through a vein, which was a bit traumatizing. I am not fond of needles in my veins and it took them 4 tries. But they did it and I was fine.  I had the port put in my arm and didn't need to be knocked out and it made administering the chemo muuuuuuch easier.

The following posts are emails I have sent all my friends and family with updates. A few people suggested I start a blog soo without further ado, please enjoy my story!!