You Got the Cancer

I got the call Monday morning, March 31st, while I was at work. “Hello, Ms. Burgess. The results from your biopsy came back and the tumor in your right breast is cancerous.”

A stage 2, non-hormonal, triple-negative cancer - to be exact.

I can look at that fragmented sentence and no longer be scared or pissed-off. Not that I was scared when I received the news from Dr. Roth but I was a little bit pissed-off. Okay – a lot. Honestly, what the dilly-o, like – how did I get cancer? This crap does not run in my family, so how is my name attached to that diagnosis?

That six-minute conversation was surreal.

So many things were going through my mind at that time; I needed to contact the surgeon…I needed to find an oncologist…so many next steps but I really needed to call my Mommy and my bff Lexx. Calling them to share the results was much more difficult for me than receiving the call. Those close to me know I am very protective of the people I love and I knew my news would make them sad and I did not want them to be sad. It may sound weird but it’s true, I just did not want them to worry.

My thinking was (and still is) we got the results and now it’s time to fight.

My medical plan of attack on this foreign invader is 8 bi-weekly sessions of chemo to shrink the tumor’s size (maybe even kill it), surgery and then radiation. My personal plan of attack is to find out all I can about cancer: what is it, who gets it, cellular structure and side effects of chemo, nutrition during the fight and nutrition after, vitamins etc.

Bottom-line is the more I learn about this triple-negative, the more empowered I become.

Make no mistake - I will kick cancer’s ass.