The day after my meeting with Dr. Keller, I had an MRI. I was told that the MRI is to check that the cancer isn’t anywhere else. As soon as the penny dropped and I realized the MRI is to determine which type of Ductal Carcinoma I have, I started to become a little concerned.  Up until this point I had felt very strong and in control.  I was positive and ready to ride the rollercoaster with strength and dignity.  But this was testing my control button.

The morning before the MRI appointment I started  thinking about the different types of ductal carcinoma; What if it’s not DCIS?  I started to cry, but caught myself.  If I let myself cry, I’ll lose it and become a wet soggy mess. When I stop crying I’ll be no better off than I was before because I don’t know what I have.  I can cry when I know which ductal carcinoma I have;

• if its DCIS I can cry with relief and plan the next year
• if its Invasive DC I am allowed to ball my eyes out, feel sorry for myself before I recompose and plan the next steps

Continue reading MRI – June 2, 2015 →

Biopsy and Results

It was Thursday, biopsy day, I had breakfast and got to the imaging center at 7:30am.  By 7:45am I was topless, I texted the Hubs <Topless already!>.  I was amazingly calm.  At 8 am they took me into a different room unlike the mammogram rooms, this room had a weird massage table with a hole in it.  I lay on my stomach and my boobs hung through the hole.  A plexi-glass square with a hole in it was used to clamp my right boob in place. There was no escape!

There were two nurses that took several X-rays and moved the plexi-glass around until they found the area they wanted.  Dr.  McAleese arrived later and walked up to my face and said “Are you a real red head?”  I replied yes.

Continue reading I need a biopsy – May 28, 2015 →