Friday 19 May 2006: The Journey Begins

It was a normal morning when I thought "hmmm...that's odd; I don't remember having a huge solid mass in my breast." Alien abduction? Perhaps. In any case, I was catching a flight to Dublin for a business trip. After a quick stop by the Google Doctor (yes, we have a doctor on site), I got on the plane with assurances after a quick physical exam that it was probably hormones acting up. After all, nobody gets breast cancer at 31! Still, the Google Doc recommended I get it checked out if I could still feel it upon my return.

Fast forward 3 weeks, many Guinesses and a quick stop over in Italy to spend some time with the family. I land back in SFO after an epic journey:Florence-Rome (train), Rome-Dublin (plane), lost baggage (thank you Aer Lingus!), quick cab ride to Iza's, 5 hours sleep, cab ride back to airport with very animated Irish cabby who dropped F-bombs every 2 minutes, flight to Shannon, Ireland (luggage recovered), transcontinental flight to NYC Kennedy Airport, 2 hours and a bad bagel later, second transcontinental flight to SFO. Man, I almost didn't survive the journey...sadly my little stow-away cancerous friend made it all the way back to SF--rat!

Thankfully I had made an appointment with my family doctor from Dub, so got in to see her shortly after my return. Dr. Schneider wasn't happy with the physical exam and extensive cancer family history and ordered a lump biopsy STAT! (She literally said that. Ok, maybe not; but I've always wanted to use that term...)