I'm A Survivor 🥰

As this day comes to an end and I tap into sharing my personal reflections everyday up until my 47th BDAY with you Wise Women; I never imagined that, eight months ago I would have a Breast Cancer Survivor testimony. Eight months ago today, I went to Siteman Cancer Center to get my mammogram. At this time, I hadn't had a mammogram since 2017. Three days later after receiving my mammogram, I received a phone call stating that I needed to return back to Siteman. Before the lady could finish her sentence I interrupted asking for what? I don’t know what I was thinking but I was instantly afraid. The caller went on to say there was something wrong with the images of my right breast.

I went in on the 30th of April to have the second mammogram completed as requested. Within 30 minutes I was told they found calcium deposits. The nurse told me it was benign. I was so confused when she followed up with.... they would need to do a biopsy to confirm. I was thinking that I didn't know what benign meant at this point.

I received my phone call while at work that I had breast cancer. I broke down. I don’t know why I thought this was the end. I had watched my friend Mary kick cancer in the ass and then my Aunt Vannetta was also a survivor. I can say at that moment I thought it was the end because my mother's best friend, Diane, died from breast cancer in 1998. There are no words that can explain what I was feeling at that moment. All three of my daughters know their mother very well. They could see the worry in my face I guess but they were on point. My daughters went into mother mode on me. They gave me and my husband the 'Pep Talk' of how this was minor and I was going to be just fine. Those three girls were comforting the both of us.

After my biopsy, I was told I had stage 0. I was like... did I even really have cancer. I was planning my funeral for stage 0. I was okay because it was an early detection. It was caught earlier on before it went to any other stage. For that I am grateful. I was diagnosed with Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) . It is the presence of abnormal cells inside a milk duct in the breast. DCIS is considered the earliest form of breast cancer. I had surgery July 10th to have the cancer removed.I was told if they didn't get it all, I would have to do the procedure again. I thank God it was all removed that one time. Shortly after I had 5 days of radiation. Now my oncologist is monitoring both my breasts and I have another oncologist that just likes to talk to me. She likes Too Short and Eazy E…. Nawl she’s my medical oncologist. She use to be bartender and their music put her in a feel good zone← those are her words. As I end today, I just want to say get those tatas checked regularly. Early detection saves lives. AND please don’t keep it a secret. You owe it to your family to let them know because a family health history can provide information about the risk of specific and certain health concerns……to be continue