This was not a dream, this was real and it involved me. My life as I knew it, had been turned upside. No longer was I this privileged girl, who skirted through life with focus and direction. In the past, I had the uncanny ability to achieve goals with little or no effort. Now, I was no longer that person with the perfect family, perfect life and the perfect profession.
Soon after the notice, I had another mammogram followed by a biopsy on July 1. The biopsy indicated the mass was located near the chest wall and was approximately 1cm in diameter. The radiologist indicated the mass tissue was indicative of Stage 1. In other words, the growth was still in its infancy and had not spread to the lymph nodes.
Following the biopsy, I received a call from The Virginia Cancer Institute. Through them, I was scheduled for an MRI and an appointment to meet with a surgeon. The MRI confirmed the location of the mass was against the chest cavity and lymph nodes appeared not to have been affected. Whew...(at least that was good news!). The meeting with the surgeon was not an easy one. This appointment was more of a crash course in Breast Cancer 101. The surgeon explained that most common cancers had hormone receptors. She explained, the receptors are proteins found inside some cancer cells. When hormones attach to these receptors they make the cancer cell grow. If my tumor was hormone receptor positive, I would receive hormonal treatments that would prevent cancer cells from getting the particular hormone needed to grow. Tumors that are negative for hormone receptors are not treated with hormone therapies. This type of cancer is called Triple Negative, the cancer the surgeon hoped I didn't have.
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