My cancer journey

As if dealing with cancer wasn’t enough, I ran into an unexpected delay in my treatment.  On September 29th, I called City of Hope to schedule a second opinion appointment, which thankfully was scheduled for October 6th.  That night, they had me fill out a questionnaire, the next day I had a phone appointment with the nurse to go over my history.  I gave them access to all my test/procedures, etc. I was pleased on how quickly they were working on preparing for my appointment.

On Thursday, September 18th, I got a call from the doctor and scheduled to talk to him after I got off work.  The pathology report came back.  Good news is that it confirmed clear margins on the lump, however they did find cancer in one of my lymph nodes. I was not prepared for the additional cancer in my lymph nodes.  I was shocked at 1) how fast the lump grew from 2 mm to 11m in one year and 2) they found cancer in my lymph nodes.

Wednesday, August 27th, my surgery call time was 9:30 am.  Prior to the surgery I took care of a couple of things.  For one I updated my Trust and all beneficiaries on my accounts.  I also established my medical directive.  I didn’t anticipate that anything could go wrong but I wanted to leave everything in order just in case.  When my dad passed away, I had to deal with probate because his affairs were not in order and I did not want to do that to my kids.  No one likes to think of the worst, I am no exception, but I want my family to know exactly what my wishes are. 

It was a good month and two weeks from the time I found out about the diagnosis on July 15th, to the date of my surgery on August 27th.  During that time I carried on with my routine of working, going to the gym and hanging out with friends and family on the weekends.  I spent a lot of time at the beach and I took many solo trips to palm springs enjoying the sun.  I love the sun…I think I was a lizard in my former life because I love the heat.  Give me a beach or a lounge chair by the pool and I am a happy person.  I also helped my daughter move in to her new apartment, helped my son move into his new dorm, went on a cruise with my girlfriends and spent time doing what I like.  I didn’t feel like I had cancer other than having the mass that I could easily feel.  I felt normal.  I was in the best shape of my life since I had been exercising and eating healthy.  I was also diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis over 20 years ago and I had it under control, no pain, no inflammation and for the past 3 months, I didn’t even have to take any medication for it.  Other than having cancer, I was in perfect health.

Why did I not tell my family right away about my diagnosis?  I have a couple of reasons: 1) I wanted time to process and deal with what I was going through.  To figure out what how best to tell my family.  I felt that if I told them right away all they would do was worry, there really was nothing they could possibly do to make it go away.  My kids were on summer break from school so I wanted them to enjoy themselves. 

I met with the surgeon on July 24th.  I liked my surgeon, he answered all my questions and gave me some options.  My cancer was in the milk ducts, Ductal Carcinoma, stage 2.  I was told it is the laziest and most treatable cancer I could have. I was given two options, I could either A have a full mastectomy of both my breasts but that would take 6 months to prep and schedule since I would have to deal with a plastic surgeon as well.  Bonus on this option is that I would get a discounted boob lift. Option B would be to have the mass removed which could be done right away.  I opted for option B.  I just wanted to get the mass out as soon as possible, I didn’t want to wait.

My journey began in the middle of June 2025, just a couple of days before my 50th birthday.  On June 16th I was in the kitchen after having worked out, warming up some food in the microwave.  As I was warming up my food, my hand brushed down my breast and I felt a hard little ball on my left upper breast area.  I have always had very fibrosis breasts so I was used to feeling lumps and bumps, but this one felt different.  It was hard like a marble and didn’t move around.  I knew something was off, however I didn’t’ think it was anything serious since I had a mammogram just last June.