One Year Cancerversary: My Diagnosis Day

September 2020 marked my one-year cancerversary. One year ago, I sat in my breast surgeon’s office and heard the words that I had breast cancer. I wanted to share my diagnosis day with you today, and offer you some tips on how you can make sure that your medical results get communicated to you in a way that you are comfortable with.  

Currently, I am done with active treatment. I’m happy to report that I have no evidence of disease (NED). I’m healed from surgery and radiation. I take a pill (tamoxifen) every day to reduce my risk of recurrence and I have a schedule of follow-up scans and visits with my oncologists and surgeon.  

It is hard to believe that it was one year ago that I found out that I had DCIS. It was a life-altering day.

Diagnosis Day

Let me tell you about my diagnosis day.

I had had my first biopsies on the previous Thursday. The results were supposed to be released to my surgeon by Tuesday. Because my surgeon worked the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the first opportunity we would have to discuss results would be the Tuesday following my biopsies.

My husband had arranged his work schedule to be able to go with me that Tuesday. I was so thankful that he would be there with me when we heard the results. I had been having a feeling that I would be getting a breast cancer diagnosis, and I was really thankful he would be able to be there with me.

We were getting ready to go when my phone rang. It was my surgeon. He called to tell me that the results weren’t ready yet and that I needed to reschedule for Thursday.

Ugh. Two more days of waiting.

My husband wasn’t going to be able to come with me that Thursday to hear the results. But, I wasn’t going to wait any longer. I was going to need to call a friend to come with me! 

 I made the appointment and then called my good friend to see if she would be willing to come with me again to the appointment. She had already been amazing by driving me to my initial appointments and chauffeuring me to and from my biopsy! Thankfully, she was available and willing to take me to this appointment.

Then, I needed to wait two more days. Sleep was not something that came easily to me during that time. I was anxious about how bad the results would be. I had a feeling that it was cancer, even without the diagnosis, but I hoped that it was low grade.

The Diagnosis Appointment

When my friend came to pick me up, I was mostly in a peaceful state. How is that possible? Well, all I can say is that I really felt the presence of Christ and His peace washing over me, with the anxiety and worry of my human soul bubbling up underneath. I knew that God already had planned this path for me and that whatever the surgeon would say wouldn’t be a surprise to Him. But, I was frightened of what laid ahead.

The drive to the office was short. We prayed together before we walked up. This was before all the Covid restrictions prevented us from bringing support people to our appointments. When the nurse called me back to take my blood pressure it wasn’t much of a surprise that it was high. I was nervous about the results.

We sat in the office, waiting for my surgeon to walk in. I could hear him talking in the hallway as he prepared to enter my room. As was his custom, he greeted me, then immediately opened his computer to look at the results again.

It was then he looked at me and said that I had stage 0 DCIS.  

I had breast cancer. 

It was in the very early stages, with only a small percentage of malignant cells in the sample. But, it was cancer that needed to be removed.

My friend was taking furious notes for me as he read off the pathology reports. Thankfully I had done some research before the appointment so I knew that DCIS meant that it was in situ. The breast cancer hadn’t broken out of the milk ducts. This was good news.  

My surgeon needed more information about the size so he quickly got on the phone with the radiologist. They conferred and agreed on what size the DCIS was. I found out later it was about 4mm in size. About the size of a grain of rice.  

After Diagnosis: Next Steps

Now it was time to talk about the next steps. No time to dwell on the emotions. Those could come later. My surgeon was a pragmatist and was ready to move to the next phase of treatment.

He advised genetic counseling so that I could see if I was a BRCA carrier. If I was, then the surgical recommendation would be for a mastectomy and also removal of my ovaries. I was on the eve of my 42nd birthday (happy birthday to me?) and so I still fell under the 45-year-old threshold for most US insurances to cover the genetic testing. He said that the office had a genetic counselor available and advised that I call her as soon as possible.

My surgeon was very adamant that he wanted as much information as possible before we did the surgery. His advice was to do a lumpectomy due to the small size of the DCIS, but didn’t want to have me do the lumpectomy and then find out I was a genetic carrier. He really wanted to avoid doing multiple surgeries on me. I was glad to hear him say that!

He also wanted me to get a breast MRI because they can pick up other things that mammograms and ultrasounds can’t pick up.  

I asked him if we could possibly get the surgery on the calendar as soon as possible and he was happy to do so.

He rattled off some more tests I needed to schedule, asked me if I had any more questions, and then, he was off to the next thing.

My friend and I walked out of the office with a list of paperwork and appointments to schedule. There were tasks to do before I began letting the family know about the diagnosis.

Telling Family about the Diagnosis

I was kind of numb for a while after the diagnosis. It was weird.  

When I got home, the first person to tell was my youngest son, who was 14 at the time. He was the only person who was home when I got back. My older son arrived back from work a few hours later, and then my husband.  

I had tried to not let on to my husband what the diagnosis was, but apparently one of my text messages to him on his commute gave it away. He walked in, gave me a hug, and asked, “How bad is it?”

There were lots of phone calls to relatives, and text messages to friends. By the time I was about halfway through telling my circle, I was overwhelmed. The emotions were starting to become real, and I needed space to sort things out. 

Dave and I headed out for a walk and began to process the new reality that would be our lives for the next few months.

Take Charge of Your Diagnosis Day 

One year later, I can look back on that day with clarity. The events are seared into my memory. The emotions of my loved ones as I told them. The look on my friend’s face as she heard the news with me. It was a tough day, but one that I am glad happened the way it did.

I was really concerned that I would receive a phone call or a web notification about my biopsy results. I did not want to have that happen. I wanted the opportunity to discuss my results with my surgeon, in person.  

How did I make sure that happened?  

I asked!

When my surgeon ordered a biopsy, I asked him if I could have my results delivered in person. I really did not want a phone call to discuss my results and have a potential cancer diagnosis delivered that way.

He was more than willing to accommodate my request. In fact, he said that he liked to go over the results with his patients in an appointment to make sure that any questions that they might have would be able to be answered.  

Before you have your biopsy or other test done, please work out with your provider how you would like the test results delivered. If you are fine reading the biopsy results on the online portal, then talk with your doctor about that. But, if you would prefer to make an appointment to talk about them, then ask! Some people like to have the opportunity to process the news before the appointment. You may want that. Don’t be afraid to ask.

I didn’t want to read the cancer diagnosis on my online portal. So, I worked it out with my medical team so that I would receive my results in person.

New Beginnings after Diagnosis Day

Diagnosis day marked the beginning of this new phase of my life. I’m grateful for the early diagnosis, the excellent care, and the new focus that I have for this part of my life.  

Getting DCIS helped me to realize that life is short, and our time to love one another is brief. In many ways, it focused me to take action, and stop waiting for tomorrow. We are never guaranteed another sunrise, so let’s not forget to seek beauty, joy, and peace in the gift of today.