I found out about my cancer 1 week, 1 day and 3 hours ago.

A lot of people have asked me how I discovered my cancer. And that is the focus of this post.

October 2012

When I moved out here to California, I got a nasty cough that just wouldn’t go away. So I went to an Urgent Care clinic where they took my blood pressure…which was off the charts. I’m talking something along the lines of 160/100. Really bad.

I told my mom about the blood pressure and that was when the calls started. “When are you going to get a physical?” “High blood pressure is nothing to fool around with; when are you going to get a physical?” This went on from November to March, when I made an appointment for a physical.

Thursday, March 28 2013

At the physical, the doctor asked if I wanted to do the pap smear stuff. I really didn’t want to, but thought to myself, “Self, as long as you’re here, go for it.”

That doctor found the lump and prescribed a rush mammogram and ultrasound for me.

I was scheduled to go out of town for work the next week, so I did.

Monday, April 8, 2013

I took the morning off of work to go get my mammogram and ultrasound. They were immediately analyzed by a doctor who wasn’t comfortable with what she was seeing. She told me that I needed to get a biopsy to determine what, exactly, this lump was. She told me the procedure only takes about 20 minutes, so I did it right then and there.

And then I went back to work.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

I was stressed out, and I couldn’t face being at work all day wondering what was going on, so I took the day off.

I carried both of my cell phones obsessively all day (my work and personal cells) because the doctor’s office had both numbers but nothing ever rang. At 3:30 in the afternoon, I saw that I had a missed call and a voicemail. It was the doctor’s office asking me to call back about the results of my tests. Right then and there I knew what it was. If it was good news, they would’ve said “Great news, it’s benign.”

So that is how I got diagnosed with my Breast Cancer.

If my mom hadn’t hounded me to get a physical, I would have no idea what was happening in my body.

If my doctor hadn’t done an extremely thorough breast exam, I would have no idea what was happening in my body.

If the mammogram/ultrasound doctor hadn’t offered to perform a biopsy right then and there, I would have no idea what was happening in my body.