Life Is Difficult

“Life is Difficult”
M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

No kidding! Life IS difficult. The results are in and it’s not benign. Wishes not withstanding. It’s an infiltrating ductal cancer. (My spell checker wants it to be ductile, not ductal. But so far I have seen it spelled both ways on the web.)

According to the Susan G Komen web site:
The most common type of invasive cancer is infiltrating ductal carcinoma (also called invasive ductal carcinoma), which accounts for 65 to 80 percent of all breast cancer cases.

Searching the web it maybe not the best thing to do when you have a diagnosis and no other information. Words like “invasive”, “rare”, “aggressive”, “deadly cancer that can quickly metastasize to the bones and lungs” all send anxiety levels off the charts. I also see that this is the most common type of breast cancer and that there are many treatment options and a good “cure” rate. I definitely need more information but this may not be the best way for me to get it.

Dr. Barker promised a referral to one of the best breast specialist oncologists in the area and so now I will have to wait for a call, an appointment and then a plan. It’s hard for me to function without a plan. I need a list and a sense of what comes next and then what’s next after that. That’s how I cope. I can keep on putting one foot in front of the other as long as I have a sense of where I’m going.