Angie

Hi, I am Angie O'Neal. Wife and Mother of Three. I am also a jewelry designer. You can see some of my work on my website, www.angieonealdesigns.com. , I also sell my items on ebay too!
Finally, here's my story:
Saved by a Bead!
Here I was, 37, wife and mother of three girls. I worked full time and even had a side business as a jewelry designer to make extra money. Seems like all I ever did was work, worry and run behind the kids. It was a typical night for me, up late making a jewelry piece that had to be finished by the next day. It was getting late so of course I was rushing and nervous that I would not get to bed in time to get a fresh start for the next day to get the kids and myself off to work on time. I accidentally dropped a bead in my shirt. I immediately jump up and proceeded to feel around in my shirt to find it. Then I noticed a strange lump on my right breast to the left of my nipple. It immediately caught my attention. First I thought, wow that’s definitely a lump, but then I know I breast fed all my girls for a least a year each and maybe my breast where still a little lumpy from that. Of course my youngest was already 6 years old so I had to rule out that theory. So I felt the other breast and knew it was different. At that point I was freaked out so I tried to erase the ideas from my head so that I could finish the piece and get into bed.
The next day, of course it was the only thing on my mind. In the shower that morning, I felt for it again, in case my perception was off from being up so late last night. There it was again, clearly a lump, about the size of a marble. It would move around pretty easily. My mind was racing and I remembered back to my last gynecological visit just 4 months earlier. The doctor did a breast exam; she did ask me if I had a history of breast cancer. I told her that my grandmother had it right before she died but she was 89. She then dismissed a mammogram since I was only 37. But, there was no mention of feeling a lump. Why didn’t I insist on it, I knew women could still get cancer even before they were 40. I guess I just decided that I didn’t need to worry about it.
On my lunch break at work that day, I spent my time searching the internet to find out about breast lumps. I knew I needed to make an appointment but I had to do my research first. Every thing I read suggested that it was not cancer. I keep the statistic in my mind that the majority of lumps in breast were found to be benign. My lump was not giving me any trouble so I thought maybe its just a cyst. I kept telling myself to get it checked but I have to admit I sort of put myself at ease with the research I had done.
Naturally life got in the way for me, between working, taking care of my husband and kids and running my jewelry business I couldn’t find the time to pick up the phone and call the doctor for an appointment. It remained in the back of my mind, I even mentioned it to my husband and a few friends and we all thought it could be anything. Finally one night my husband was doing a little exploring and he mentioned to me the next day that I had a lump on my breast (of course he doesn’t remember our prior conversation about it), that next day I finally made that appointment in December, two months after the night I first discovered it.
At the appointment, I told the doctor, she felt it, thought it may not be anything but a fibroid but scheduled my mammogram after the first of the year. Of course, things went on as normal, we celebrated Christmas and I went to the appointment in good spirits not expecting the worst. Since that was my first mammogram, I had no idea what to expect. There were all these older woman, I think besides one other woman, I may have been the youngest in the room. When it was my turn, they indicated based on my chart that they would have to do an ultrasound as well. It seemed all to be standard procedure to me. While in the waiting room, I read numerous articles about other woman and their stories of breast cancer. All the while thinking, this probably wouldn’t be me, but I certainly felt all emotions in their stories.
After my ultrasound the nurses called me back to their offices and indicated my doctor was on the phone. That’s when it started to hit me, she indicated that I needed to come to her office the next day. I immediately went through my head trying to figure out what I had scheduled the next day. I told her I had a meeting and couldn’t make it the next day. She insisted that it was really important so I just told her yes, I would be there. Now I was in a daze, what was happening?? I didn’t know what to do, I had to go back to work, cancel my meetings and figure out what to tell my husband. I just told him all I knew and went to that appointment the next day. My doctor told me it didn’t look good, she was scheduling an appointment with a breast surgeon in the next few days for me to get a biopsy. The next few days were a blur; my emotions were going up and down. I was trying to prepare myself for the worst but still hope for the best. All I could do was wait to see what would happen.
I told my same few friends to let them know about the biopsy, they all had very encouraging words. I still went to that appointment scared out of my mind. It wasn’t until I met the breast surgeon that I began to feel reassured. She just had this incredible way about her that made you feel that no matter what, you were in good hands. After the biopsy she asked me if I wanted my results immediately or did I want to wait to come back the following week to get the results. For some reason I decided to wait. I don’t know if that was the wisest decision but after the emotionally rollercoaster from the last few days, I needed some time to calm down a little. I have to admit, I felt pretty good when I left the doctors office. I even went to my supervisor that day and let her know that I knew I would have surgery coming up soon but I didn’t have all the details. I just wanted to give her a heads up but I didn’t’ want to make her worry if I didn’t have to. She begun to ask a bunch of questions but I just told her I would let her know more as I knew more. She asked me how I was feeling and I remember telling her I felt “Great and I could probably do a couple of cartwheels down the hall”. I still don’t know where all that mental energy came from.
That next week on Janurary 12, 2006, I went to the breast surgeon’s office to get my results. I got there at 2:00 and sat and waited until 4:00 for my turn. It was very frustrating. Finally when I got into a room, the doctor entered the door. She immediately starts shaking her head and saying my name. I knew it was bad from there. The worst had happened; stage 2 Breast Cancer. I then felt like all that positive thinking did nothing.
Each moment got worse and worse, she was very encouraging. But all I remembered hearing was chemotherapy, very aggressive, radiation, children, family, support group, prayer. She called my husband into her office and told us both everything. I was a mess. There was even a woman who stopped me on my way out and told me she was a survivor and gave me her number. I even had a few phone calls on my answering service when I got home that day from other survivors. I didn’t talk to anyone but just knowing they were there, was helpful.
The worst part was thinking about how I would tell my kids and my family. That just broke my heart. I stayed at home from work for a day and just laid in the bed and cried. Eventually my friends began to call after they didn’t hear from me; they wanted to know the results. Immediately upon hearing my voice, they knew what the answer was.
We immediately went into treatment; I had a lymph node biopsy first, then 2 rounds of the “Red Devil”. It was pure hell, the first time I vomited for 3 days straight. I recovered after that but then had to suffer through losing my hair. After 4 days of watching my thick curly hair fall out little by little, my husband and I decided to just shave my head. It was liberating! It helped that my husband thought I looked “Hot” with a bald head. The kids were fascinated by it; they amazingly handled it very well.
I wore a wig my first day back to work but was miserable. I decided from then on just to wear nice scarves and cool earrings. I finally had my surgery in April, since the tumor had shrunk enough; it was a lumpectomy. The recovery was a whole lot easier than the lymph node biopsy. I went to a wedding reception that weekend and danced all night!
After surgery I had 4 rounds of taxotere which was much easier than the AC, just a lot of aching and fatigue. By then I had a little bit of hair growth and it was summertime so I gave up on the scarves. It’s amazing how much respect you get when you’re a woman with a bald head.
After chemotherapy, I had 6 weeks of radiation, which was a breeze compared to chemo. I even did the Breast Cancer 3-Day in the middle of treatment. It was truly an amazing journey.
My friends, co-workers, family and my husband have been there for me through all of this. I mostly worked through all my treatments, just taking a few days off to recover each time and working from home when necessary. This made every thing go much easier in my opinion.
I took Herceptin for a year because I was HER-2 positive, which was pretty easy. Now I am on Tamoxifin which has been tolerable but I can't say that I have enjoyed it. I have been working out like a maniac to avoid any weight gain that comes along with the meds.
I won’t pretend that I don’t worry about cancer and that I don’t think it will ever come back. I just try to make the most of each day and stay positive! It is a blessing that I found it and I am well, I just hope to stay that way to be here for my girls. I think about them all the time, whether this will happen to them. But maybe this will help them be more aware of what’s going on with their bodies. My life has not changed that much since cancer but I definitely am putting things in perspective. I’m getting much more rest and taking more time for myself. I even got this great new hairdo! And I am definitely still beading and making jewelry!
Hot Premade Layouts - Music Bands - Animals - Movies