I’ve started this post for what feels like a million times…always losing the words. I keep telling myself to just stick to the facts so I’ll try this again!

A couple weeks ago I went for a routine mammogram and ultrasound and there was a suspicious area in my right breast. (For those of you who have been on this journey with me, the right side has been the normal one).

In that moment they took a biopsy and a few days later confirmed that I have what is known as DCIS, Ductal Carcinoma In Situ. My surgeon refers to it as pre-cancer, so the cells have only started to differentiate. Everything so far has been really great news:

A few key facts:

1. The area is less than 7mm, so it’s tiny

2. The area is trapped in the milk duct and it can’t escape.

3. The MRI shows no other areas and no spread.

4. The cancer isn’t hormone negative (triple negative) instead it’s hormone receptive positive, so a whole new cancer, entirely different from the first two times.

What would normally happen is that they would cut the lump out, give some radiation and you’d be on your way, no chemotherapy.

In my case, I’m quite shaken. No one knows why I keep getting cancer and I am really fed up of going through this again and again. Genetically I’m BRCA negative, but there are a couple new things they could test to see if the reason is genetics. We will be doing some additional investigation with a genetics counsellor.

So what to do? One of my biggest regrets when I had a lump the first time was that I didn’t just have a mastectomy. I know it can still come back even if you do that, but I feel I would have saved myself many rounds of chemo if I had been more brave.

So this time I’ve decided to be really brave. Sometime in January I’m going to have a right-side mastectomy, no radiation and no chemo. I’ll also have my left side fixed as I’ve been having issues with it.

I had been feeling so brave and very much in charge of my future, but the last couple days I’m feeling very vulnerable . The hospital stay will be around a week but I’m hoping to get out faster. I just can’t imagine being away from the girls and Elliott for that long.

Thanks for listening xo