During a routine self breast exam in April 2014 I felt something different, I never noticed that hard spot before. I tried to ignore it but after a few days it was still there. My mom is a survivor and always stressed the importance of early detection. But I was only 26, this can't be cancer. The salon I was working at was about to close down and I was changing jobs, it had to just be a cyst or something. I was just starting to get to a point in my life where things were falling apart but coming together at the same time.
I finally called my gynecologist and he referred me to a breast specialist. He preformed an ultrasound and needle aspiration because the mass was solid. A few days later on a Sunday the doctor called and said "it's malignant". My heart dropped...but I'm too young for breast cancer.
I ended up being BRCA1+ and ER+. Having such a strong family history I decided to go with a bi-lateral mastectomy and reconstruction. I didn't want to worry so much after all this. But I never had kids, I still wanted babies. Fertility was not covered by insurance, so I had to find a way to have my eggs harvested so I would never lose the chance at becoming a mom. Getting through this would have been impossible without friends and family.
I was so unprepared for the intensity of 16 rounds of chemo. On the A/C my whole body hurt more then I could describe and could hardly function for days after. I had a rare reaction to Taxol and ended up in the hospital for a second time. Taxotere wound up being more tolerable and I finished my last treatment on November 11,2014. I am still struggling with some side effects but I'm starting to see glimmers of "normal". But I SURVIVED! Through all the dark days where an end was no where in sight, I made it through, cancer would not win. My final reconstruction surgery is coming up in December.
Philadelphia, PA
