It was July 2016; I had just joined a gym two weeks prior, thanks to my wife’s teasing (the woman loves to work out), so I caved and started going. One evening after the gym, I was taking a shower and noticed what felt like a lump the size of a penny. It was hard like marble, so I showed it to my wife, who told me I should make a doctor’s appointment. I was ready to write it off as a cyst, but I took her advice.
I’m happy I did because she saved my life. A trip to the doctor turned into an ultrasound and a biopsy. A few days later, I was sitting in the basement drinking a cup of coffee, and I got the phone call. My doctor told me it was carcinoma, and he scheduled an appointment to meet with the oncologist and radiologist to discuss surgery. I could not believe it; male breast cancer. I’ve been through some crazy things in my life, but you could have knocked me over with a feather. Within a week, I was having surgery.
My surgeon, God bless her, was getting ready to leave for vacation, but postponed it on the chance we caught it early. (That plus I kept saying I was going to take a bottle of Ouzo and a steak knife and remove it myself if they didn’t operate soon. Lol.) One surgery later, I’m at home, missing one nipple but recovering from surgery and watching daytime television. I was lucky and blessed that it was caught at Stage 1, but the downside was that it was a very aggressive tumor, so they wanted me to do 3 months of chemo.
I’m not going to lie, the thought of doing chemo terrified me, but in the end, I caved in; I did not want that garbage to come back. For 3 months, I walked around looking like Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings ” and suffering from aches, pains, and exhaustion. (I can’t complain because I dodged the nausea bullet)
It’s been 4 years and I’m still here. I’m still taking my Tamoxifen and trying to stay healthy. I have a whole new appreciation for life. I appreciate the time I spend with my wife and daughter taking our vacation trips. I’ve even started drawing again. I stopped for a few years, but cancer lit a fire under my ass. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people who either had cancer, are currently fighting, or have family members fighting. To those people, I say God bless you and give you the strength to overcome this. You fight and you keep fighting because you owe it to yourself and the ones you love!