So it begins....

I am not a writer by any stretch of the imagination. Nor am I a good story teller. But I will do my best to tell you my story without boring you to tears. The most important thing I want everyone to get out of this is the importance of knowing your body and trusting yourself.

My story starts on the Friday before Memorial Day. After taking my morning shower and yelling at the boys to stop jumping off the bed onto the chair, I started to get ready for the day. As I was putting on my deodorant I caught my reflection in the mirror and stopped. My right breast looked "weird".  I've been noticing for a while (but ignoring) that my right nipple was slightly tucking in on the top. Now not only was it tucking in but the shape of my breast was very different when I lifted my arm. It looked almost flat in one spot. I then heard a small crash and was distracted yet again. Later in the day, while trying desperately not to think about it - I suddenly remembered Ms. Kozan. 

Ms. Kozan was the mother of one of my middle school classmates (Doug) as well as the PE coach at the high school I would attend. Sometime between 8th and 9th grade she died of complications from breast cancer. At some point my mom told me that Ms. Kozan had found it when she noticed one of her nipples was pointing in a different direction. With that thought I became quite anxious. I started doing some research and everything I read said to check with your doctor. So first thing Tuesday morning (dang holiday) I scheduled an appointment. After a couple of appointments, a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, and a surgical biopsy I have the start of a diagnosis... 
Thank you Ms. Kozan. 

I have been diagnosed with Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC). That means that the cancer started in the lobules of the breast and is now invading other nearby tissue. They cannot stage it yet because they do not know about lymph node involvement yet. There were no clear margins on the samples removed so there is a lot more still there. Based on the current information my surgeon recommended a mastectomy. I asked her to take both of my breasts - for sanity reasons as well as cosmetic. I don't want to worry about whether it could, or has, developed in the other breast.

The reconstruction process will be started when I have the mastectomy. We don't have the surgery scheduled yet though I am anxiously waiting to find out when that will be. As part of the mastectomy they will remove and test lymph nodes. If the results are positive I will start chemotherapy. Genetic testing of the tumor will be performed and, based on those results, it will be determined whether or not I need to start chemotherapy.