Hello beautiful friends...
/Journal Entry #1
Hello beautiful friends...
I have some news to share... in January 2015 I felt a new lump in my right breast... no biggee because I have lumps all the time... it was still there in April 2015 so I saw my doctor... on May 1, 2015 I had an ultrasound and they wanted to biopsy the lump and a lymph node... on May 28, 2015 I had the biopsy... on June 1, 2015 I was told that it was cancer and the lymph node was clear. So crazy. So weird. So doesn't-make-any-sense... I know...
They said it was invasive poorly differentiated ductal carcinoma. Feel free to Google to better-understand this info. Estrogen Receptor (ER) and Progesterone Receptor (PR) are negative, so there are less options for chemo drugs. Ki-67 is 91% (super-duper aggressive, they like this result to be under 10%, or under 20% at the very least). Still waiting on Her2 results. There's no blood vessel or lymph node involvement (so probably Stage I... will know after surgery). We consulted with 2 surgeons on June 3, 2015 who recommended lumpectomy w/ radiation & chemo, or single/double mastectomy with chemo (their recommendation). My chest x-ray was clear. The MRI I got on June 8, 2015 shows that the lump is contained and has not spread. We met with a genetic counselor on June 8, 2015 too (there's no history of breast cancer in my family). I'm hoping to see 2 oncologists on June 12, 2015. 7% of breast cancer is diagnosed in women under 40, of those diagnoses most are called aggressive triple-negative (ER, PR, Her2 all negative).
I'm really careful with words and have been saying, "I've been given a diagnosis of cancer" and not "I have cancer"... instead "I have curly hair, I have a kind heart, I have wonderful family & friends." I'm leaning toward choosing other treatments instead of radiation and chemo; I'm more concerned with morbidity (quality of life) than mortality (length of life) as I watched my older sister suffer for 18 months as doctors "prolonged her death" instead of prolonging her life. I met June 9, 2015 with the "man in the mountains" who God used to heal the Q Fever I was diagnosed with using prayer, nutrition, and light frequencies in 2012. I started a week-long juice cleanse/fast and daily coffee enemas on June 7, 2015 per his recommendation.
So... how can you support me. Prayer (especially for wisdom as Josh and I make these really big decisions). Encouragement. Love. I wanted to wait to reach out to all of you until I knew the results of the MRI, and we got them this morning on June 10, 2015... it was really, really good news.
I love you all...
xo - Colleen