Jenny's Breast Cancer Blog: My Story

In October 2013 a dear friend had her first mammogram which came back abnormal. Although a stressful experience, thankfully her lump was benign. Her news prompted me to do a self exam which was something that I had not been doing for months, if not years, and I immediately found a lump in my left breast. I had my annual exam with my OB/GYN in January so I just waited to discuss it with him then. He felt the lump and explained to me that it was not uncommon for women's breasts to be lumpy and that given my young age of 36 it was most likely nothing. He suggested waiting for 3 months to see if it changed with my cycles and if it did not go away we'd move forward with a mammogram.

On April 19 I ran my first half marathon. The Race to Robie Creek, dubbed "the toughest half marathon in the Northwest" because of over 2,000 ft of ascent and 1,700 ft of descent, was super fun and I felt fit, happy and excited to be in shape for the upcoming summer.

Then the first week of May we decided to take an impromptu road trip to Portland to visit my longtime friend and her family and do something different. We rented a small apartment in the Pearl District in downtown Portland, ate lots of good food, rode the MAX lightrail and in the end our long weekend urban adventure was one of the funnest trips that we'd taken as a family of four. Looking back I'm so thankful we took that random trip before the shit hit the fan.

My lump didn't change and due to scheduling of appointments did not actually have a mammogram until the end of May. I was annoyed because my insurance was not going to cover the mammo because I was only 37. The first uncomfortable shots showed nothing - quite shocking since the chickpea sized lump was easily felt by hand. Turns out that young breasts are dense which makes mammos tough to read because it is all white, a good lesson on how important it is to do self exams. They took more shots and really squished things in there, which showed an abnormal shape and by the look on the radiologist face and her reaction I knew it was not good. Two day later I had an ultrasound guided biopsy and on May 23 I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. A month after feeling so healthy and good about Robie Creek.

After that there was a lot of waiting, which is difficult when you just want to do whatever possible to rid your body of cancer as soon as possible. It's a lot of time to cry and think the worst. Since I was adopted and have no family medical history I went ahead with genetic testing to guide me through the lumpectomy vs. mastectomy decision which took about a month to get results. Then it takes about a month to get on the books for surgery. I had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy on June 20. A week later, I learned that the breast cancer had spread to the lymph node and that I would likely need chemo. Surviving chemo has been way tougher physically and emotionally than I had imagined. After chemo I will have 6 weeks of radiation.

The part about the race and the road trip may not seem applicable. To me it is devastating how quickly I went from being happy, healthy and able to take on new adventures with the three people that I love most. I just want my life back. After this diagnosis there are some things that will forever be changed. And this diagnosis has not only robbed me of the things I love most, but it's been devastating for Ryan too. Seeing your loved one in pain is terrible. Not to mention that right now he's unable to enjoy the things he loves on a regular basis because he's caring for and picking up the slack for me. It's so unfair.