Adventures of the Poor, Little Boob

   This journal is about my journey with DCIS which began in January 2024. Ductal Carcinoma in Situ. A form of breast cancer. I didn't tell many people. Family, a handful of close friends. I didn't even tell my bosses at the museum where I teach. Somewhere along the line after much prodding and poking, I decided the My DCIS Journey was too boring so retitled the journal Adventures of the Poor, Little Boob.

The Poor, Little Boob has been cancer-free since June 0f 2024, and still has another year of taking hormone therapy and being monitored by an oncologist. My target date for ending the medication and this journey is June1, 2027

One thing that I want to mention, that I didn't mention last week, is my diagnosis was found on a routine mammogram and the cancer was caught in a very, early stage. I had no pain, no bumps, lumps. Nothing out of the ordinary. I had no clue anything was going on. So, if you're putting off getting that mammogram, don't! I urge you to keep up with the mammograms. I know it's a PITA, but I'm the poster child for routine mammogram and early cancer detection.

I finally got a call from my primary care and she went over the results of the biopsy and diagnosis. I told her that I would like to be treated at Dana Farber and she said she didn't think that was a problem. She thought many patients from the medical group had been treated there.

Now that my diagnosis was official, there were so many emotions that I felt. Worry, fear, and not knowing what was going to happen. Shock, sadness. Why me? The feeling of being lost at sea and anger because I was not going to have control.

My cancer was caught very early. So reasonable to assume a positive outcome. That also made me feel guilty. What I was going to go through wasn't close to what others had gone through. I had  Imposter's Syndrome. Like saying I had cancer when it really was a hangnail. So that's why I didn't tell many people I had cancer.