By Amanda Hulton
Diagnosed age 37
Stage 3
Hormone Positive
HER2 Negative
Working full time, exercising regularly, lots of socializing, mom of 2 boys ages 7 and 10, 13 years married to my high school sweetheart and cancer!
It was the day after trick or treating with my kids, doing all things a 37-year-old Mom would be doing and that phone call with the words “You have breast cancer”. We all are only one moment away from our lives being forever changed and this was mine.
A year before my own diagnosis my Mom had completed genetic testing and was BRCA2 positive, we have a family history of breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. Her and I met with a breast surgeon to discuss her preventative double mastectomy. I remember listening to my Mom's questions, hearing about the procedure and wondering what I would do if it was me. She was nearing 62 and I was 37, would that make a difference? Little did I know at that time I already had cancer and I too would test positive for BRCA2.
Cancer does not care you are a young mom, working, a wife, a sister, a friend, a daughter and healthy otherwise.
My treatment plan included chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, salpingo-oopherectomy and hormone blockers for 10 years. Sounds good right?
I had an aggressive tumor that spread to my lymph nodes and I was going to be starting chemotherapy in 3 weeks. I was set up for 8 rounds every 2 weeks so long as I could handle it. Well, I almost couldn’t, that was the toughest 4 months of my life. I had a picc line, showering was not normal, I slept for days, I was dehydrated, puffy from meds, allergic to the infusions, allergic to the tape, had no hair and was gaining weight and feeling so far from what I felt only one month earlier.
Two of the things I struggled the most with and stressed about in the early days of my diagnosis was losing my hair and how having cancer was going to affect my marriage. In the early days I googled for hours, all day, all night looking up how long before hair grows back, styles for short hair, timelines for re-growth and products to help speed up the process. Chemo day 17… just as I was told I had my head shaved. I still get teary remembering this moment. I now not only felt sick, I looked sick and I didn’t look like the girl I had known for 37 years. Who was this person staring back at me? I got a wig right away; I called her my lifeline. Once I had it, I wore it ALL. THE. TIME. It made me feel confident to leave my house, to have visitors, to go to my kids’ school and sports. I even wore it down a waterslide just so I could live life with my kids.

Coping with Chemo:
♥ Stay hydrated
♥ Sleep
♥ Eat small meals