Everything is happening so fast... Let's go to Disney!

After hearing that my biopsies came back positive for cancer on the Friday before Christmas, I was prepared to not hear anything else until at least the following Tuesday or Wednesday. Since everything is closed for the holiday and in my experience nothing is usually rushed in the healthcare system. But to my surprise I got a call from an unusual cell phone number and for some reason I answered it. It was a woman on the other end from the Breast Surgeon Dr. Camal's office. She apologized for calling from her cell but said Dr. Camal's received the email about my and wanted to book an appointment to meet with her asap. I told her I would be leaving for Disney tomorrow and would not be back until NYE. She told me to enjoy my vacation and could I come in on Jan 4th. I said yes I would be there and thanked her for calling on Christmas Eve.

My brain went straight to "Why are they rushing this?? It must be really bad"

At this point in time the only thing I know is that I have Breast Cancer. I shouldn't have breast cancer but I do. I have No clue what type, what stage, what my treatment plan is. And as per usual what would be the next step to take when we don't know anything... GOOGLE. I know, I was warned NOT to google but it so hard not to... its literally At my FINGERTIPS! So all the images of breast cancer come up....Chemo, hair loss, surgery, hair loss, breast reconstruction, hair loss... yes I'm aware i said Hair Loss 3 times. Losing hair scares the shit out of me... I would like to say it doesn't but it does. But we will get into that another time. So the more i looked up the worse my cancer became... I was convinced I must have a rare extremely life threatening form of cancer... why else would they be rushing my appointments? Right? But all this I kept inside and didn't verbalize. I wanted to go on our Disney vacation and enjoy every minute with my family. Who knows what the future will hold.

So Christmas morning Santa came and the kids were full of excitement! We celebrated with my sister Maggie before heading to the airport to be on our way! Disney was exactly what we needed to keep our minds off of the disaster that was in my body. We laughed and ran around like crazy from ride to ride the first Day at Magic Kingdom. Came back exhausted and did it again the next day at Epcot. But this time (my brother) Jesse, (sister in law) Sarah, (niece) Stella and my Mom (who flew down a few days earlier) joined us. As we were going through the park my phone rings and I can see it was from Hackensack Meridian Hospital. So of course I answer it.

"Hi Annie, this is Ana and Im your nurse navigator from the Women's Center. I wanted to call and see how you are doing and if you have any questions? I'm here to help you through the process and each step."

"Hi! I'm ok. Kinda overwhelmed with everything but I'm actually in Disney right now with my family."

"Oh that's wonderful! What an amazing experience and perfect timing."- We proceeded to chat for a bit about my kids and their ages and her children and going to Disney. Just some nice comfortable conversation. Then she asked "Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, I do. I have no clue what type of cancer or stage I have, Do you have any of that information because my mind is spiraling?"

"Oh I'm so glad you asked that. Yes I do and I'm glad we are talking before they release the information to you. You have a very common breast cancer called Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma. The stage is not confirmed yet but its at least Stage 2 because it has gotten into the Lymph node. Its is ER Positive and PR Positive which is good because it is easy to treat. You will be on an estrogen blocker for about 5 years or so after all your treatment is complete. This will be a hard few months but this is a very treatable cancer."

I literally took a sigh of relief and thanked her so much for calling me and answering my questions. She really put my mind at ease. We talked a little more and she told me to contact her at any time if I had any other questions. The moment I hung up with Ana, it was like a switch went off in my head and my whole inside mental state changed. This is treatable. Yes I'm not supposed to have cancer. But I do and I can't change that. But I can change how I feel about it. There is a reason I got this and Im going to beat it. I don't have a choice. I have 2 kids who need me here and that is my focus.

We enjoyed another 3 days of Disney, Universal and family time before heading home back to the real world. Back to my life that now includes cancer.