A lot of 2023 for me was spent at doctor's appointments. And it was emotional for sure. And it wasn't even about me.
I can still remember the evening in February when my mom called to tell me she has Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. It was in 2010. She had a biopsy on a lump that they had been keeping on eye on for a while. Surgery was scheduled.
After my mom's first surgery the surgeon met with a team to go over her case. In that meeting it was determined there wasn't enough of a tissue margin taken around the tumor. The decision was made to do a second surgery and take out more tissue just to be "safe" in the future. While the surgeon was doing their thing, another tumor right next to where the first one had been. It was removed.
The second tumor did NOT show up on a mammogram at all.
The next step was to do a MRI on my mom's breasts. { I have had MRIs on my breasts, it is done with and without contrast. The contrast will light up any spots that are a possible tumor because tumors are fed by blood and the contrast goes directly to them. } The results were astounding. My mom had regular mammograms. Nothing showed there. The MRI was lit up like a Christmas Tree. In BOTH breasts.
After getting that news my mom decided to had a double mastectomy. It was scheduled for April 29 (I hope my brain is remembering correctly). I went to Alaska to take care of my mom while she had surgery and recovered.
Once she had recovered from surgery she began chemotherapy. She did 6 rounds of chemo. Radiation was not needed since they did the mastectomy.
In December of 2010 my mom had reconstructive surgery and we thought breast cancer was behind us.
Thought is the operative word here. She was stage 1. It was contained. They removed it all.
My world was rocked in 2023 when almost 13 years to the day of her double mastectomy my mom was again diagnosed with breast cancer.
