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Greetings and welcome to my blog. I am hopeful that my journey will help others listen to their gut when they know something is wrong...and not stop searching until they have the answers. I invite anyone who has had a similar experience to share their story. Let's band together to help save lives!
In 2003 my husband and I moved to a new home about 25 miles from our previous home. Within a few months I felt "not right" I was tired, had a general sense of being "not well"...My symptoms were vague and my husband chalked it up to "you're getting old...welcome to the club". I knew that was not it. I suspected a "sick house". Or perhaps the agriculture (our new home was in an area with more farming and open fields). Another bizarre symptom: I had itchy arms...not a little itchy...UNBEARABLE, wake-up-from-a-dead-sleep itchy. I tried everything including steroid creams (out of desperation as I try to use as few presciption drugs as possible). By 2005 I was certain I had cancer. Just knew it in my soul. I told several doctors (2 gp's, 3 dermatolgists). While none of them were completely dismissive they also did not take it very seriously. They ran extra blood-work, did pelvic ultra-sounds, asked me if I had annual mamograms (I did...and ultrasounds every other year). I visited many medical web sites and plugged in my symptoms...pick an illness...I fit into so many! I found an article about a plus-sized model who had itchy skin and was diagnosed with lymphoma...ran those tests...didn't have that! In 2008 my mamogram and ultrasound came back bad. I had a biopsy the next week and there it was: BREAST CANCER...had been growing fo 5-7 years...had gone undiagnosed for 5-7 years! Except I knew. I didn't know it was breast cancer but I knew. My first response was relief ...now I knew where it was. That was followed very quickly by the typical fear, shock and all the emotions that come with a cancer diagnosis. So, my goal here is to help others. I invite anyone who has had an experience like mine to share their story...If one person gets an earlier diagnosis we have done our job!
