A day I will never forget…

June 20, 2013 –  On a day that should have been filled with excitement and anticipation because the Miami Heat were playing the Antonio Spurs in Game 7 and were about to win their 3rd championship…

However, my day was filled with another kind of anticipation — Waiting for biopsy results.

I wasn’t overly concerned. After all, most lumps are benign, I had no family history of breast cancer and I was relatively healthy.

But just in case, as my daughter Megan and I walked into the building, I grabbed her hand and confidently said “Just remember, no matter what the results are – It’s going to be ok.”

I believed it with all my heart.

Dr. Shapiro walked in and was his typical personable self. And then the “fog” came over me. I saw the expression on his face change as he proceeded to tell me that the results unfortunately came back positive and that I had breast cancer. I remember hearing this and calmly looking over at Megan to see if she was ok. We both seemed “ok.”

I don’t remember exactly everything that was said that day. Other than it was early Stage I invasive ductal carcinoma and was ER/PR+ (estrogen/progestrogen positive) and Her2-.

I asked Dr. Shapiro what he suggested as treatment and from our previous discussions he felt that I would be most comfortable with a lumpectomy + radiation instead of a mastectomy. I wasn’t really sure how to feel about that, it was all just so much to absorb.

I was given a copy of the biopsy report and then was informed that my “insurance” Vita Health would not cover any reconstruction, oncology, radiation or chemo. Awesome.

And we left. I’m not quite sure how we held it together, but we did. We walked out to the car and just sat there. I dumped out my large McDonalds sweet tea. Good bye sugar!

Not having the energy to talk, I text the news to my close friends and family.

I don’t remember much after that. I was kinda numb. We went home and put on the Heat game. They Won! I was happy, but still numb.

Not knowing what else to do, I took my biopsy report and started Googling.

My girlfriend Tova came over to check on me. I don’t really remember what was said. It just didn’t seem real.