I Walk For Life

About 5 months before I was to be married, I went in for my annual gynecological exam. Nothing major, I needed a new birth control prescription and the annual routine exam. Except this time, it was not routine.

The doctor found a lump in my breast. At 25, breast cancer wasn't even on my radar screen. I had no family history. When I told my doctor that, she said that is one of the biggest myths about breast cancer. Family history is only one factor. There are so many more, some of them they don't even know.  She indicated she really didn't like how the lump felt, and advised me to get a sonogram the next day. She made some calls and got me an appointment.

It is never good when during a sonogram the sonogram tech says, "hold on.  I need to get a doctor."

The films were sent to my gynecologist and she informed me to see a surgeon, pronto! Which I did. I had an appointment on a Tuesday, and the surgery was set for the following

Monday. The surgeon informed me that malignant lumps feel a certain way, the way mine felt. He wanted it out, and ASAP. And then we would figure out what to do next.

In that moment, time stopped. I was 25 years old, about to be married. This could not be happening. I had a brief moment of, I'm not going to do it, I'm not going to deal with this. But of course I did.

It turned out that the lump was not malignant. The reason it felt the way it felt was because there was another bigger lump behind it, that was also non malignant.

I was, and still am, so lucky.  So many more are not.

For this reason, a few years ago I did the now defunct Pallotta Teamworks 3 Day breast cancer walk.  I am so incredibly grateful for the amazing, proactive medical care I received and felt like I needed to give back.

This year, I'm joining my fellow DC Metro Moms for the DC Race for the Cure. 

As Melissa Etheridge said, I run (or walk, as it may be) for life.

Adapted for DC Metro Moms from Jodi's personal blog jodifur.  Jodi writes about being a wife, mother, attorney, and everything in between.

Comments

[feener]

you go girl

[Nicole]

God bless!