Thank you

I just wanted to say "thank you" to all of you incredibly strong and selfless women. My mother went through breast cancer surgery and treatments a year ago early Feb to April. It was a scary process for our whole family, we were especially concerned because she has a collection of immunity disorders which made chemo an unacceptable option. Luckily, we caught her cancer early (especially because it was tublar carcinoma and could travel throughout her body if it got into her lymphatic system).

Recently, I went for a long weekend with my husband to celebrate our first anniversary. My breasts were very achy, especially my left breast. I wasn't concerned at first because it isn't uncommon my chest to be a little sore before my period or even some othertimes during times in my cycle.

The second day of our long weekend we went for a long bike ride in the heat and were exhausted, took a nap and went about our day. The next morning my breast was very itchy. At first I thought it might be heat rash. (Even though I've never had it before...) When I went to put on my bra, there was a warm inflammed area kinda' shaped like a kidney around my areola. It hurt so I showed it to my husband. He made a joke about a spider thinking that my breast was tasty.

Later that afternoon the redness had spread.

On the ride home there was a tightness in my chest, and had to take off my bra.

The next morning, when I got up the redness had moved over to the otherside of my areola and was creeping up toward my armpit. It was very sore. I was at work that day and googled bug bites and rash pictures trying to figure out what could have caused it.

I called my general practioner and got her last open appointment of the day. After I scheduled the appointment I googled rashes and clicked on every picture that looked like mine... and all of them led me to different links about IBC. I was a little concerned, but I know how easy it is for everyone who looks at the internet to think that they "have that".  

By the time I went to the doctor yesterday, my breast was very warm, itchy and considerably swollen (very visibly larger than the other). The "infected area" was bright pinkish red. My doctor did her exam, put me on strong antibiotics and steroids to help with the swelling, and told me to call her if I didn't see an improvement in the next few days.

So here I am, just hanging out for a few days letting the antibiotics do what they can do. It has led me to think a lot about things and what would happen "if". And strangely, I have a weird calm about it. If it were the worst case scenario, I'd be catching it early- and that's reassuring.

I have a lot to live for and am not afraid to take extreme measures to stick around.

When my mom was diagnosed, I was freaked out. But, I didn't know much about the C-Word. And I am massively possessive of my mom. (Have you ever seen a momma bear protecting her cub- yeah that's how I am with my momma'.) So there was a lot of fear there. But for some reason, if it were me, I know that I'd be up for a fight and I'd be alright.

Which leads me back to my subject. Thank you.

Thank you to all the people that have posted on here. The people that take the time out of their own busy lives to help and support other people that are going through the same thing, have family members that are going through the same thing, or even people that are concerned that they might be personally soon be fighting themselves.

 I wish I had found this website last year. (PS- I'll keep you posted. Hopefully it's just a spider bite.)

Hugs, love, and strength to you all.