I have some explainin' to do!

Being that I am not the most skilled in keeping in touch with my friends, I realized that when I created my blog and linked my business website, there will be those who will read it and say "WHAT??!!" and not be in the know regarding my health issues during the past two years. I really am sorry and will now lay it out for you, my good friends, that I neglected to inform.

In September of 2005, I was hospitalized with two blood clots in my lung. Over the course of the next year, my hematologist ran extensive tests trying to figure out the cause of the clots. When other tests failed to provide answers, he began looking for hidden cancers. He decided that I should go in for a screening mammogram, even though I was young and had absolutely no family history of breast cancer. I went in for the test in September of 2006.

I was notified soon after that the mammogram showed microcalcifications and the radiologist reported that the chance of a malignancy was very high. I had a biopsy and received the news that I had breast cancer. It was caught in a very early stage and because I made the choice to have a bilateral mastectomy, I avoided chemo and radiation treatments and my chance of recurrence is 1-2%. Two years and 3 surgeries later, I am doing well and living life. This October, I will have what will be the last surgery for a very, very long time. Decades maybe. And because of what I have experienced, I am able to help others traveling down a similar path. I also invented a post surgical product and have applied for a patent. It is a new and exciting time in my life and I am determined to make the sweetest lemonade out of those totally rotten lemons I was given.