My cancer story is one of uniqueness. Leave it to me to do something like cancer to its fullest. It did not begin with a mammogram diagnosis or a lump. My journey began about 4 years ago with some suspicious activity that turned into Paget’s disease of the nipple which signaled the underlying cancer. On April 1^st I found out about my breast cancer through a biopsy that came back as positive for Paget’s disease. The onslaught of tests, learning, and decisions were dizzying. I immediately went for an evaluation of the suspicious tissue and had to begin making decisions for my mastectomy. I quickly learned there is a test called the BRAC Analysis which is a genetic test for breast and ovarian cancer. Finally, a piece of good news for me, I did not have the gene.

Now it was time to make decisions about my mastectomy and how I was going to handle reconstruction. I discussed my options with my boyfriend Brian, friends, family members, and even my principal/boss. I read books, searched the Internet, and contacted people I know and knew from my past that had been directly affected and that I thought might have answers for me. The outpouring of love, encouragement, and help during this process was overwhelming. After meeting with four different doctors, two surgeons and two plastic surgeons, I decided to go with immediate reconstruction and was lucky enough to find two wonderful doctors. They were willing to work together, just because I wanted them to, even though they had never done so before. My surgery was scheduled for mid May.

My mental preparation at this point was very important. I had to scrap any idea of competing in triathlons for the rest of the year and focus on a positive attitude of getting better. I stopped thinking about what I wasn’t going to able to do and started thinking about what I could do, that I was alive and kept my mind on the fact that so many others had made it before me.