I know I have given everyone the general info on what's been going on but today, I wanted to write a full report. For me and for anyone that isn't quite caught up yet.

So this all started late Monday night, April 2nd. I was dead asleep and woke up at around 1:30 am sweaty and went to remove my sports bra and noticed a very large lump under my left breast. I immediately freaked out and woke Elliott up to touch it as well. We both agreed that while it was probably nothing, I should still go see the dr.

I was able to book an apt with the dr online through Kaiser for the next afternoon. Tuesday morning I woke up and went to work and did my best to stay calm throughout the day. Luckily, I work at an imaging office and was able to have an ultrasound done. The US tech said that it looked like a benign tumor and that it should be fine. This brought me a little bit of peace but I still didn't feel right. I've been doing monthly exams for the last 10 years of my life and have NEVER found a lump which is why I was convinced this was most likely something more serious. My dr also tried to keep me at ease and told me that it was most likely a fibroid or a cyst bc there was no history of breast cancer in my family but that he still wanted me to go in for a mammogram and another ultrasound.

Monday, April 9th I went in for my very first mammogram and had another ultrasound done. They asked me to come back in the next day for a biopsy (not what I wanted to hear). Tuesday, April 10th, I went in for a biopsy (thanks, Melissa and Elliott for the company) and started to really lose my shit. Of course, I had to wait almost two days for the results. Thursday, April 12th, I was leaving work and thankfully was not in my car yet and got the call. I was informed that I have invasive ductal carcinoma aka breast cancer (also the most common). This cancer starts in your milk ducts and then starts to expand out. I was told I needed to come in the next day for a breast MRI which would allow them to stage the cancer and see if there were any other tumors present. As you can imagine, I could barely see in front of me. I went back into work and lost it. The lady at Kaiser called again but since I could barely form a sentence, one of my amazing co-workers totally went into crisis mode and got my MRI and follow up appointments scheduled. I honestly don't remember much more after that. Alex called Elliott to come and get me and I pretty much walked around in a daze for the next week.

Friday, April 13th I went in for my very first MRI (MORE FIRSTS!) and am happy to say, I did pretty well. Fortunately, I got the call later that afternoon. They gave me my tumor size (4.2 cm) and informed there weren't any abnormal growths anywhere else including my lymph nodes, thank God! I did my best to relax through the weekend but mostly just sobbed every minute I wasn't busy.

This week has been full of dr's appointments and scheduling. Monday, I had a phone consult with a genetic counselor over the phone. Since I don't have a history of breast cancer in my family, they suggested I get the testing done to see if I carry the BRCA gene. It will test for a few different genes but I think that's the main one. Honestly, I don't remember bc the lady had a lot to say. I will get that done on Monday after I attend my chemo class. The genetic testing won't change my treatment plan at all. It will change my surgery options after chemo is done.

Wednesday, I met my surgeon and oncologist plus the rest of my team. Aside from the oncologist's nurse saying, "Oh, your hair is so pretty! Have you thought about what you're going to do?" everyone was really great and nice and super comforting. I fee like I'm in really great hands but I'm still scared as hell. I was given an official diagnosis, Stage 2 triple negative breast cancer with a grade 3 tumor. Generally, most young women tend to get triple negative and the tumor is almost always a grade 3. Triple negative cancer doesn't respond to hormone therapy. Instead, they attack it aggressively as possible with chemo. I thought I'd have a couple of weeks before chemo started but my oncologist gave me a come to Jesus chat and moved all my appointments up to Friday. I had a MUGA scan done yesterday and then immediately went to the second floor and had my port put in. I'm basically a cyborg now :) I've spent the last three days crying about losing my hair but if I have to lose a breast and some hair to be healthy again and to get this fucker out of me, then that's what I'll do. I'm not saying it won't be depressing or scary but LIVING is much more important.

I have this weekend to recover from getting the port put in. The port is to make the chemo treatments easier (if that's even possible). No heavy lifting for 5-10 days, booo!!! My chemo will involve two different rounds. The first round will be 4 treatments over 8 weeks, starting this coming week on Wednesday, April 25th. I'll get a week off and then will start back up weekly for 12 weeks.

MY GOALS: to be done with chemo by Sept 6th so I can attend STS9 at Red Rocks that weekend! I am also planning to be at Hulaween to see Jamiroquai since we had to cancel our trip to SF this last week. I am planning to work as much as possible through my treatments and to keep going to the gym. I know not to overdo it but I also don't want to lose all normalcy through this process. I'm also doing my best to stay STRESS FREE through this process bc it is NOT conducive to my treatment. It feels weird to be selfish.

For those of you that keep asking me what you can do, we will have more information coming in the next week hopefully. I'm going to do my best to keep this blog updated throughout the process. Since the chemo will weaken my immune system, I may be limited to seeing a lot of people bc of germs.

Thank you to everyone who has checked in and is sending me so much love and support. I want yall to know, I feel every bit of it and we are both in awe by how our village has come together.

Until next time,
Nabeela & Elliott