The week that changed my life...
I’ve been through a lot in my life. I’ve had a lot of health issues. Fibro, CFIDS, Depression and anxiety just to name a few but none of that prepared me for the day that will change my life forever.
For the past couple of years I’ve had multiple infections in my breasts. I had a lumpectomy on my left breast which resolved the issue. About a year later they started in my right breast. The last one I had landed me in the ER. It went from nothing the night before to a 3-4 inch spread of red on my breast with red streaks spreading up from it.
I called my breast specialist, and immediately started antibiotics, again. By the end of the day I started feeling really lousy and ended up in the ER getting some IV Antibiotics. By the next day all was better but this one had me worried because it came up so fast and so bad.
I had my follow-up with my specialist a few days later and we discussed this infection. I asked what we could do to help these as this one had me worried. She said they could simply go in and remove the ducts and hopefully this will stop the infections. I was all for this as I was tired of dealing with them.
My surgery day came and I was slightly worried about undergoing another surgery but it wasn’t too bad. The surgery went fine with nothing remarkable happening. A simple in and out surgery. All was good and I felt good about my having the surgery. This was Monday.
Wednesday as I tried to sleep I just couldn’t. I was worried and I didn’t know why I was so concerned. Something I saw online really stuck in my head this time when I saw that the Doctor had removed a lump. In my mind I figured this was the abscess but I couldn’t get it off my mind. I got back up for a while, took my anxiety medicine and waited until I was tired enough to go to sleep.
Thursday night as I readied for bed my breast specialist called me. She said the pathology report was back and not to worry. She said it isn’t as bad as it’s going to sound. Naturally, this freaked me out. She said that it just raises my already high risk, for breast cancer. They had found Multiple spots of Lobular Carcinoma in Situ. She said it, she said the C word. My mind couldn’t wrap itself around what she had just said. I was calm and collected said thank you, scheduled my next appointment for the following Thursday and hung up the phone. I told my husband what she had said and turned in.
The next day I started researching, educating myself. I must have read the pathology report 100 times. I found in it that some places displayed pagetoid spread. I learned this meant that it was spreading out of the original location. I read about treatments. Wait and see, what I’ve been doing for years due to a high rate of Cancer in both sides of my family, not an option in my mind. Cancer preventative drugs, many side effects, not 100% effective. Double mastectomy, 90-95% rate of success.
Monday morning I get a text from my specialists office, she has ordered a review of my pathology report and wants to see me today. Not good, can’t be good. For the first time I took my husband to one of my appointments. My usually pleasant caring doctor said, do you want to get down to talking about options before we do anything else. We discussed the options, we asked questions, I was well informed by now, and had all but made up my mind. I asked her what was my best course of action, and she came to the same conclusion as me, Preventative Double Mastectomy.
So here we are, preparing for a Double mastectomy with an immediate reconstruction. Here you have the story of the week that changed my life…