A recap of the last few weeks

Occasionally, something happens that causes you to take a step back from the daily grind and realize how precious life is. The resulting perception/understanding of the truly important things is one that I wish I could experience all the time.

Jodi and I have been in that moment for about a week as she was diagnosed with breast cancer last Monday. Our journey with breast cancer really began three weeks ago when Jodi noticed a lump on her left breast. Fortunately, she was quick to get checked out by her gynecologist, who in turn was diligent in getting Jodi scheduled for a mammogram and ultrasound. The mammogram and ultrasound indicated that there were indeed two lumps in Jodi's breast and that there were calcifications around the lumps. A biopsy confirmed that both lumps contain cancer - the official diagnosis is "invasive ductal carcinoma". Ductal cancer, which effects the milk ducts in the breast, is the most common variety of breast cancer. The fact that the cancer is "invasive" means that the cancer cells have broken out of the larger cell walls and have potentially effected other areas. Obviously, all of this hit us like a ton of bricks and in our initial visit with the surgeon we were trying to find something, anything, positive to focus on. A couple positives came out of our visit with the surgeon. First, we found out that Jodi has what they call a "garden variety" of breast cancer, which is much less progressive than breast cancer normally is when it strikes women at such a young age. Second, and perhaps more important, we felt very comfortable with the surgeon. All of Jodi's treatment will take place at Northwestern, so we are confident we are working with very capable physicians, but Dr. Hansen also showed a level of compassion that doctors are not always capable of showing. Dr. Hansen did not seem alarmed when discussing Jodi's diagnosis and potential treatment options, and spoke as though she had been through this with patients many times before...all of which gave us a sense of reassurance that we can make it through this.

Jodi and I are generally very positive people, which should help us both cope with the physical, mental, and emotional roller coaster that we will be dealing with for the next 9-12 months. We are confident that we will get through it and that we will come out of it stronger than we entered it. I will keep this blog up to date with Jodi's appointments, treatments, progress, and anything else that may be interesting to those who want to keep up on what's going on. I am also going to include a quote at the end of every update...I have always been a fan of quotes and think they will be very helpful in our quest to beat Jodi's breast cancer.

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference" - Winston Churchill