On April 17th, I went in for my routine mammogram.  I was a little apprehensive this year because last year they had seen an architectural distortion, whatever that is.  My apprehension wasn’t because I was worried that I had breast cancer, it was because it cost me $1,500 last year to be told everything was fine.  I got the call that they wanted me to come in for a diagnostic mammogram, no biggie, done that before.  The radiologist came in and recommended that I go ahead with a needle biopsy, the distortion had changed a little and she wanted to put this to rest once and for all.  I’m not going to lie, the needle biopsy hurt.  It was like a thousand wasps stinging the exact same spot.  The radiologist said it would be 3 to 5 days to get the results.  Two days later, I checked into MyChart, I knew the results would be there.  I was absolutely floored to see Final Diagnosis, infiltrating lobular carcinoma.  I was crying when I called my wife, Teresa, to tell her the news.  I also called my doctor to make sure I read the results correctly.  I still remember her exact words when she read the pathology report, “Amy, this isnt’ going to kill you.”  That was a relief but it still is a scary diagnosis.  The next couple weeks were a whirlwind of appointments, testing and crying.  I meet with a surgical oncologist at Christ Hospital and was very impressed.  After hearing all the results and treatment options, Teresa and I decided the best option was to do a double mastectomy.  I also chose not to have reconstruction surgery, the thought of inserting some foreign matter into my body didn’t appeal to me.  I was lucky that they were able to schedule the surgery very quickly so there wasn’t long period of time to worry about the cancer that was in my body.  I worked the day before the surgery which was a Sunday.  Some great regulars brought in a bunch of shirts that said bye bye to the boobies in a bunch of different languages.  I know it’s a little callous humor but sometimes you just need to laugh instead of cry, of course I had to wear the one in Italian.  The surgery was at Christ’s main campus and my sister, Marilyn, came to keep Teresa company while I was in surgery.  There was a lot of anxiety but they didn’t wait very long to give me some medicine to calm me down.  There was the typical whirlwind of prepping for and the whisking off to the surgery suite which I don’t remember anything about.  Next thing I know, Michael’s wife, who works  in the after surgery unit, was asking me how I was feeling.  I can’t say enough for the preparation instructions I was giving, I drank so much water and electrolytes the 48 hours before my surgery that I felt like I was floating away but it really kept me from having a bad reaction to the anesthesia.  In the past, I have had a lot of problems with nausea and anxiety but not this time.  I had to spend one night in the hospital and I was braely out of surgery when they had me in my room.  Once there, I took one narcotic pain medicine, not because I was in pain but just in case.  The night was a typical night in the hospital, some one coming to check on you every couple hours, I slept but not very well.  The next morning I was ready to go home.  My pain level was very low so when they offered me a choice of pain medicine, I just went with Tylenol.  The surgeon came to see me very early, she said everything looked great and they would get the results of the lymph nodes by the end of the week.  She signed off on my release from the hospital and I was home by 9:00 am.  I had two weeks before I saw the surgeon during that time I was not allowed to drive, work or lift anything above 5 pounds.  I will sum it up in a nutshell, I was bored out of my gourd.  I was in no pain, wasn’t tired and hated that I couldn’t do anything.  The only problem was the surgical drains.  They had to be empty three times a day and Teresa was best at taking care of them.  I didn’t have any issues and was able to get them removed 5 days early.  Three days after the surgery I got the best news I could get, no cancer in the lymph nodes.  This meant no chemo, no radiation, my only treatment will be a hormone blocker for 5 years.  So far the side effects from that haven’t been too bad.  Two weeks after the surgery, I saw the surgeon, she said everything looked great.  I was released to drive and go back to work.  It was a huge relief.  I went back to work and slowly built up to lifting cases of wine.  So here I am not quite three months after surgery and I’m back to mostly normal.  I’m lifting cases of wine, kegs of beer and most importantly playing golf.  I’m still working on scar tissue, that is a long road and I’m not the most patient person.  The silver lining in the darkness of being diagnosed with cancer, is the outpouring of love and support that I have seen.  The people who know my wife Teresa will not be surprised to know that she did a wonderful job taking care of me but I have to stress that she is just such an amazing person and I couldn’t have done it without her.  My family and friends helped so much to, whether it was my siblings getting me out of the house so I didn’t go bonkers, my friends who dropped off meals, to all the people around Findlay Market who were just so glad to see me back at work.  It really does take a village and I’m so thankful to the village I have. 

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