Initial Diagnosis

When Susie discovered the lump in her right breast, she acted immediately and made an appointment to have a mammogram and ultrasound. Even though the lump was plainly obvious not only to the lightest touch, but even to the eye, the mammogram did not detect it. A needle biopsy was done, and it was determined that the lump was indeed cancerous. She was told on Friday, October 13th. We have decided to become superstitious.

I think she has spent this entire first week reading everything on the Internet she could find, in addition to several books, including the ones in the list to the right. I think that we have probably all been doing the same. I also know that finding information targeted to women under 40 has been challenging at best. That fact is causing us to consider the possibility of recording this experience and creating a documentary about women under 40 surviving breast cancer. Thoughts?

We decided that something like this will help us all to keep information from appointments to the questions and answers in one place so that we can all update it for ourselves to use. But this will also serve as a way to communicate to all of those people who care so much for Susie to keep up on the latest information and status of treatment. Additionally, we will post feelings and experiences here as well, because we believe that opening up about how this is affecting everyone, not just Susie, will help us all cope and support Susie in the best way we know how... through love.

We request and encourage you to post comments, thoughts, feelings, and your prayers here as well... we will be reading this blog as much as we will be posting to it, and it is meant to be a communication conduit for all.