In July 2018, I felt a hard and fairly large lump under my left nipple. It was not painful until afterwards.
After a mammogram and ultrasound, I received the results back that afternoon. It was “highly suspicious for cancer”. I was referred to Dr. M at the Midland Surgical Center.
Ali, my wife, and Danalyn, my daughter, went with me to see Dr. M. and had a biopsy. On Monday, I got a call from the doctor saying I had an invasive cancer. She set up an appointment with her when we scheduled a mastectomy. We also talked with Charli, the nurse who assists with breast cancer patients. She gave us some resources to contact regarding funding for this.
On July 18, 2018, I had my mastectomy and the first two lymph nodes on the left side removed. Dr. M got all of the cancer. Afterwards, I saw Dr. Manget, the oncologist. He told me that it was stage 1b cancer. He prescribed tamoxifen, which I have to take for five years. I returned to Dr. M a week later to check the drains. I saw the surgeon and oncologist every month until we left Pecos, TX, to move to Yoakum, TX.
Since then, I have seen the oncologist once a year. During my appointment in 2021, a new oncologist in Florida explained that research has shown that it’s good for a patient to be on Tamoxifen for 10 years. We will be discussing that at my appointment later this Fall 2022.
The issues that I struggle with regularly include, Why me? Why did I not need radiation or chemo? And why did I survive? I am also very self-conscious of my scar and never go out in public without a shirt on, even while swimming, I wear a swim shirt.
My two favorite things to do are spending time with our grandchildren (pictured here is Alex) and sharing the love of Santa.