The Finding

I'm on a journey. A big journey. As some of you know I am a Certified Tumor Registrar. I have accessioned hundreds of cancer cases (maybe thousands) and have read about numerous types of cancer. I know about disease progression, symptoms and courses of therapy. I know about death.

So on July 4th when I looked in the mirror and saw that my breast had a huge red area I knew how to attack. I gave it two days to go away on its own (maybe something bit me) and then I called the doctor. The nurse knew my worry and got me right in to see the doctor.

We discussed what it might be (because I already knew) and she gave me antibiotics to cover any skin ailment it might be. She also ordered my first mammogram (I'm 38 so I haven't had one yet) with an ultrasound. I couldn't get in until July 28th.

My first thoughts were it could be inflammatory breast carcinoma and my breast resembled what some of the pictures on the Internet looked like. The other thing I could find in googling was an infected milk gland (thus the antibiotics) but nothing else (since I'm not breast feeding this would be rare).

I told a few friends and they started praying for me. One of the friends had a connection at Asheville Radiology and they got my mammogram moved up to the 24th.

I took the full course of anti-biotics and the redness got a little worse, not better.

My friend Melissa sent me a great email. She said: "I refuse to accept this diagnosis. I know that we don't get to choose these things..." Then she reminded me of Paget's disease. Paget's disease has a much better outcome than inflammatory breast cancer and since they are both rare (Yeah, me and the rare diseases) there isn't a ton of information out there on either of them.

So I was more optimistic.

The wonderful mammogram will be the next post.