October is Breast Cancer awareness month. This is the month where you will see a lot of pink. It is a reminder to all women to go get their mammograms. As women we know this is important, but mammograms are uncomfortable, they take time out of our day, and they can be scary. But a mammogram may just save your life. It did mine.
Five years ago, I went in for a routine mammogram. I had not had one for about 3 years. I did a self-exam every time I was in the shower and I would lie down on the bed occasionally and do a self-exam. I would never feel anything unusual. But silently, a small tumor was growing inside my left breast. I never felt it and I had no symptoms. But the tumor was found, and a biopsy was done. It was small and after consulting with a surgeon and an oncologist, it was decided a lumpectomy would be the best course of action followed by 6 weeks of radiation.
Little did I know, several months before my diagnosis God had put a person in my life to help me through this stressful time. Let me tell you her story. Her name is Christy. Christy and her husband called my office one day to talk to us about doing a kitchen remodel. She had been referred to us by a mutual friend, Ed, who owns the company where we buy our granite and quartz countertops. We looked at the job and gave Christy and her husband a bid for the kitchen remodel. When I called to follow up a few days later, I found out Christy was in the hospital having a double mastectomy. My heart broke for her. She is a young woman barely in her 40’s and at that time her youngest daughter was 4 years old. During her recovery, we got together to sign the contract for the remodel and that is when she told me her story.
She went in for a mammogram. A very, very small spot was seen by the mammogram. The doctor wanted to wait and watch it and do another mammogram in a year. But Christy said no. Something inside her told her there was something wrong. She insisted on having a biopsy. The biopsy was done and sure enough it came back as malignant. Christy was frightened but determined. She had older children and her young daughter, and she needed to make sure she would be around for a long time for them. After finding a wonderful, young female surgeon who is a Christian and after lots of prayer, she and her husband decided to have the double mastectomy. She was taking no chances. She made the right decision and saved her own life. It has been 5 years, she has had breast reconstruction and is cancer free.
But like I said earlier, God put Christy in my life at the right time. Once I found out I had breast cancer, I called Christy. She talked me through the process and calmed my fears. She told me about her wonderful surgeon, Dr. Brown, and I immediately made an appointment with her and the surgery date was set. I had uterine cancer and thyroid cancer, 5 years before the breast cancer. Everything was caught early and through surgery I had been cancer free. Getting a third cancer was a difficult pill to swallow. I have always felt a positive attitude, faith and prayer will get you through everything. However, I had a day of feeling sorry for myself and being angry. I was alone in my house that Sunday morning a week after my diagnosis. As I sat there crying, I text Christy. For the next 2 hours we text back and forth and during those 2 hours I came to grips with my cancer. My feeling sorry for myself and my anger were gone. Christy knew all the right things to say, she let me express my anger and calm my fears. The things I could not say to my family and close friends because I did not want to show my fear and anger, I was able to say to Christy because she had already been through all of this. She helped me to move forward and conquer the unknown. Although, Christy and I don’t see each other much and follow each other mostly on Facebook, we will always have a special bond. See God knew what I needed months before I knew. It was just one more time, God used someone special to guide me down life’s road.
Today, I implore all you women to get your mammograms and do your self-exams it could save your life!