And so it begins.

So where did I leave off?

Oh yea, I was on vacation in Florida. I miss the beach, the sunshine, and the tranquility. But in addition to all of that, I had a huge weight I was carrying around, the cancer diagnosis. Thankfully I didn't really have to do anything or even think hard for that matter while we were in Florida. The breast specialist sent my biopsy results to my OB/GYN's office and unbeknownst to me, had scheduled an appointment with a surgical oncologist.

My first reaction when they called me with this information was, "I'm not available, I'll be in Cleveland for work." It took me a minute to realize (after saying this out loud to my mom) that I was crazy. Of course this would work and I'm sure if I shared my diagnosis with work that everything would be covered.

Share my diagnosis... could I really do that? It was hard enough sharing that news with family, wouldn't telling my co-workers make it even more real? First, I emailed my boss who had no idea I had even had testing done. Then I emailed everyone else who knew I had a biopsy done. This sucked. After sharing this horrible, heartbreaking, punch in the gut news I never could have imagined the kind of encouragement and support I would receive. Everyone was rooting for me, I really did have an army behind me. Once I realized that, I knew I could fight and fight hard.

So on to another doctor's appointment (you'll see that a lot in this).

I was in Cleveland traveling for work that week, so I stayed with my mom and we woke up dark and early at 5AM so we could leave for Columbus by 6AM for the appointment. At this point it hadn't really sunk in yet who I was going to see... I had to see a "cancer doctor".

Thankfully the appointment went well and I received a lot of good reading material (not stuff I was every HOPING to read, but what the hell). I was going to have an MRI (which my army scheduled for that night), genetic testing (which my army scheduled for that day), consultations with both a plastic surgeon and a reproductive specialist, and scheduled my surgery. So within a few weeks I will have seen seven doctors, SEVEN. That is insane. I had a hard time keeping names straight after that.

After this day, I knew this journey was going to be a long one and hopefully I was up for the fight (of course I was/am, I'm me).

Thank you for taking this journey with me. And remember to always...

AD