The beginning July 13, 2017
This week is the anniversary of my cancer diagnosis… three years! I remember the day I received the news like it was yesterday. I was sitting in my office waiting by my cell phone. I had the biopsy a week before I received the news and I was waiting for the doctor to call me with the results. I knew something was not right when the nurses would not give me the results, but instead told me I had to wait to speak with the doctor. So, I was constantly sitting by the phone waiting for the call. When the phone rang my heart sank. I answered the call. The doctor proceeded to tell me that the mass is positive for cancer but they think they caught it early because it is less than 1 cm. I don’t think anything could ever prepare me for the moment I hear that I have cancer. I blanked and I just sat there quiet and listening to what she was telling me. Instantly my life flashed before me. All I could think about was my family, my daughter and husband. The call concluded with the doctor notifying me I needed to see a breast surgeon. Her office was already on the phone with the breast surgeon’s office to schedule an appointment. I immediately ran out the door to my office and drove home. I called my husband from the road and told him to meet me at home. The strange thing is I did not cry. I didn’t think for a moment poor me. My head was spinning but I wasn’t crying.
I met my husband at home and we just embraced one another. How could this happen? I worked out and ate well and slept well. I don’t have a history of breast cancer in my family. So, how could this happen? That is all we could think about. But instead of focusing on the cause of the cancer, we decided together to focus on getting me healthy… surviving the cancer and living! We both decided to respond to the cancer with positivity, we did not want any negativity in our lives! We immediately went into survivor mode. Calling doctors to schedule appointments. But the hardest part was telling my family that I was just diagnosed with cancer. There were many moments of silence and I could hear some trembles in their voices. I am sure they were thinking the worst and afraid of the outcome, but I knew I was going to recover from this and that I was going to live.
The anniversary of my diagnosis is an important day in my life. It’s a day I will never forget. We are always in life encountering situations that challenge our faith and our relationships and our bodies. The cancer was just another challenge I was facing. In those situations where we are being challenged, we can choose to either approach the situations with negativity or sadness or defeat, or we can approach the situation with positivity and acceptance and victory. I chose the latter… I think anyone would choose the latter of the two. The beginning is not the end. The cancer was not the end for me. It was only the beginning of my journey!