Macee

It has been 206 days since I felt the change in my body that would end up changing my entire life. Knowing my body well is what I believe saved my life. When I felt the grape size lump in my left breast on 9/12/20, tears immediately began to fall down my face. In my gut I knew something was not okay. ⁠

I knew that lump was foreign and that it should not be in my once smooth breast. So I acted. It was a Saturday morning, but I still made 3 phone calls. ⁠

One to my mom to tell her my deepest fears and for her to help me find the words I am to say on my next two phone calls. The next two phone calls were to doctors: my gynecologist and my general practitioner. Since it was the weekend, I didn’t hear back until Monday. ⁠

Fortunately, both of my doctors wanted to help me with my concerns. However, they too wanted to believe the false idea that 26 years old is “too young” to have breast cancer.⁠

Between my first gut feeling and the day of my first diagnosis on 10/8/20, all the doctors and the nurses that I encountered believed it to be a fibroadenoma. ⁠

However, I knew that I NEEDED to be 100% sure, so I kept pushing and advocating for myself until I knew for a fact that my lump was a fibroadenoma. I’m glad I never stopped pushing and advocating. I could have said “Okay, if you think it’s nothing then don’t worry about it, I’ll call back if it doesn’t go away.”⁠

I could have listened to all the doctors beliefs. I could have left it alone and forgot about it. I’m so glad that I didn’t.⁠