T Stands for Get Your Kitties Checked

 

Today, begins Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Yeah, you've heard it. Go get your mammogram. The test is not fun. What's the harm in skipping a year or two?

I'm here to tell you to make sure you get your kitties checked. I had a routine mammogram a year ago in November. A few days later, I got a call back. "There was some calcification seen on the image. Please make an appointment so we can do a deeper scan."

On January 2024, I went in to have the deeper scan. After, I was asked to wait so the radiologist could read the image before I left. I barely sat down when the radiologist came into the room. Calcification is common in older women (moi). She said if I were younger, she would have me wait 6 months to do another scan, but the calcification looked very suspicious. She strongly suggested I have a biopsy.

The biopsy was done on January 23 and two days later I got the pathology report: DCIS Ductal Carcinoma in Situ. Carcinoma. Cancer. Whelp, that sux. The good news though, it was caught very early and the second was the "in Situ.": abnormal cells are found only in the place where they first formed. They have not spread, and they rarely spread to other areas of the body. 

A lumpectomy to remove a very small lump, 16 radiation treatments, and taking Tamoxifen for the next 3 years, was a speed bump in my life. On June 27, I was told I was cancer free.

So ladies, I'm the poster child for getting those routine mammograms. I had no clue anything was going on. No pain, no lumps, no bumps. Nothing out of the ordinary. Make sure you have your kitties checked every year. No excuses.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.