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.
I was in my car when the doctor told me, I was shocked, sad and for the first time a little afraid. I cried in the car for a little while…then I decided to drive straight to the beach. I didn’t want to tell anyone at the moment, I wanted to process and think of how I am going to deal with this. I drove to the beach and went to eat at a restaurant and watched the ocean waves. I ate dinner and then I went to sit at the actual beach. I just sat there and thought of my options, how I was going to handle this. I cried a lot, the ocean breeze and the smell of the ocean was soothing though.
I prayed a lot, I was at the beach until the sun went down, probably for about 2 hours. I gathered myself and thought of the things that I could control and do. I decided to continue to eat healthy, however I did indulge in somethings. I would continue to work out and stay fit, continue to do my job and to not let this consume me. I didn’t feel sick so I wasn’t going to act sick.
The next day on the 19th, I met with the oncologist and went over my pathology report. I needed to have an Oncotype DX test done of my specimen to determine the best treatment for me. Oncologist stated he would place the order and it would take about 1 month for the results to come back. In the meantime, my doctor ordered a Pet Scan due to the fact that I had cancer in my lymph nodes and he wanted to make sure it wasn’t anywhere else.
On September 30th I got the Pet Scan done. While I waited for the results, I felt God leading me to get a second opinion in regards to my treatment. I made an appointment with City of Hope.