A Kick in the Breast

  Three years ago, I joined the club that no one really wants to be in. However, what I have come to realize is that this “club” is full of the most amazing women who have inspired, offered support, raised awareness and are of the kindest, funniest humans you will meet. I consider them to be among the greatest gifts that I have received while on this continuing journey. It is my absolute delight that you will get to “meet” four of these remarkable women throughout the month of October. They have given their time and assistance to help create a truly impactful campaign for this month of Breast Cancer Awareness. A campaign we are calling “By Survivors for Thrivers”. I got the very difficult job [ 😉 ] of connecting 1-1 with Tina, Emily, Jacque and Nancy as they shared their breast cancer journey. We quickly realized that though there are certain similarities, each experience is unique from the time leading up to a breast cancer diagnosis, during treatment and beyond. The constant was

To preface: I was never a big social media poster before, during or even after cancer treatment. AND I am in no way announcing a recurrence so let’s take a collective breath and read on… What I am sharing is that breast cancer doesn’t end when you’ve completed treatment. You don’t “move on” from that experience. You try not to worry about every pain and symptom. And you might even do a pretty good job of this. But then something happens, that gut instinct kicks in and you know it’s not just nothing. With it being the start of Breast Cancer Awareness month today I felt it was appropriate to share how important it is to pay attention to your body. I paid attention to my body. I continue to pay attention to my body. I saw visual changes in my chest this past month and a new pain that had me laid up in bed. After visiting with my brilliant oncology team at Mayo they ordered a cocktail of tests and scans to check it out. (Sidebar- it never settles well when you’re oncologist uses the word “