In her story, Genoa also highlights many important quality-of-life issues, like dealing with the hair loss , working through treatment, and being a patient self-advocate.
This interview has been edited for clarity. This is not medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider for treatment decisions. Cancer is no longer the death sentence I used to think it was growing up or what I feared it might be. I had been feeding it. Basically, I had had an estrogen-patch that I attached to my butt every 2 weeks to help me through menopause.
All that had happened was I had accelerated [it]. Through medical intervention trying to help me manage my menopausal symptoms and re-balance my hormones, I had accelerated something in my breast that was cancerous. The best description I ever had was from a nurse practitioner [who] drew me a diagram on the sheet that they cover the examination bed with. That made the most sense to me. I had a stepson who had made it to university, and I was working in my career.
I think as women we know that nausea is there for a reason. If I felt nauseous, that meant something was really wrong. As luck would have it β or maybe the universe was taking care of me β I had hit my deductible on my annual health insurance. I thought that was a fantastic idea. I also let her know I felt nauseated. I just felt icky, so I scheduled my mammogram. It was incredible.
I actually managed to have my MRI scheduled on the same day. I do think there was something very special going on because by the time I got to my mammogram in the afternoon, the results of my MRI had already gone through. They did a very different mammogram because they knew exactly where to go. They were looking for something on the right breast. They let me re-gown and sit up. Then they told me they could see a tumor-like mass, and they would need to do a biopsy the next morning.
