Stacie's Story:

As I did my own search for anything abnormal, there it was, a lump. Was I really feeling an abnormal lump in my boob I thought. I was, so I called my doctor to get in as soon as I could. She verified the lump and suggested an ultrasound, but my gut was saying biopsy.

When I arrived at my appt for an ultrasound, I made it very clear, in the nicest way possible of course that I wasn't leaving there until they took a biopsy. I sat all day while they wiggled me in between other Appt's. I told them I was my own best self advocate! (This is so important!) after the biopsy, he scheduled me to come in for the results.

I brought my oldest son in with me to hear the news. That is when my journey began. They were pretty sure they could get it all with a lumpectomy, but my margins weren't clear, re excision followed and my margins weren't clear again. In the meantime I discovered another lump. They redid an ultrasound on the lump and nothing. (I was thinking, thank goodness!). But because of my margins not being cleared I opted to do a right breast mastectomy.

When I awoke, they said they did find another tumor, right where I said I felt the lump. Thank goodness I had them take the breast. The pathology showed a malignant tumor, yes, another one, the one I felt that the ultrasound didn't detect, what does this mean, I thought. And a different type of cancer to boot.

My treatment plan changed a bit and I began my fight. Having to be desensitized through treatment as I am allergic to the treatment, was a side journey every time I went in. Just knowing that I would go into anaphylaxis within 15 minutes of them starting my IV is such a mental game. (Thank goodness for my team who was right there 100% to give me what I needed to counter it). Although I won't finish treatment until September, I'm feeling good about the outcome.

I still continue to make sense of different things along the way. With a metastatic diagnosis, reality is, there is no guarantee it didn't travel somewhere else. The chemo is taking a toll on my kidneys as well as my heart now and I may step back and not finish treatment until I get stronger. (And yes, I have been told by, well, everyone that knows me how good I look etc.) I look so good to protect you from what I'm feeling. With many other things coming into play now, I need to stay strong.

People tell me that I inspire, encourage, and uplift them all the time. Well lately, I haven't had the energy to lift others up, and those that miss that, I have discovered aren't willing to do so in return. In any health challenge, I'm sure you may agree, a person discovers who their true "walking sticks" are. I go out walking as often as I can, and I will continue to do my best to inspire, encourage and uplift those that come in my life.

Friends and family don't always know what to say, I understand this. If you are someone strength, someone's "walking stick", thank you. You are one of the most important people in someone's journey. We all have the same amount of time in a day, it's the choices we make within that time, that will create who we truly are.

I challenge myself everyday to help 5-10 people make me smile. This is easy, all you do is smile at someone and they smile back, which makes your smile bigger!

Stacie Hubbard