So, my 60th birthday was Sunday and on Monday I found out I have breast cancer. Not exactly the birthday present I was hoping for. Spent the week going back and forth between dr appts and crying and feeling sorry for myself. Still searching for that great attitude and not there yet. Thankfully, it is stage 0, not spread and they are going to do surgery and then radiation. Going to a Genetic Counselor to see if I have the gene so I can decide if they do lumpectomy or take the boob. So much info to absorb, my head is spinning.
Thank you all for your thoughts and good wishes. I do appreciate it. This is the first time I have felt able to get on here and talk about it. I should be feeling very grateful it was caught so early but I am still feeling sorry for myself. Sigh... I will get there.
Shari --
It sounds like you're going to be fine! You have the best possible outcome -- Stage 0, and that's great. I've found that accepting this diagnosis is much, much harder than it should be...I go for my second chemo tomorrow, and I STILL keep thinking it must all be a mistake.
Focus on getting
through whatever your next steps will be, and then think about how lucky we are that the problem can be detected before it becomes really serious.
I've been saying, since my whole cancer adventure started, that even without a breast, we can still do 99.5% of everything we want to do...it could be so much worse! AND: it isn't LUNG cancer (which got my grandfather at 57). And reconstruction these days is just about perfect.
The Hubber and I have been talking about things we're going to do once we get past our own ordeal -- we are stay-at-homers, and I think we're going to be getting out and seeing a bit more of the world. You will also get past this.
Good wishes for you and please take time every day to escape a little into something you like to do, whether it's reading a great book, cooking, a fun hobby, a good movie, or a walk around the neighborhood. Do not allow the cancer to define your every waking moment.