The Southwest Voice

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     GUT FEELINGS, WE ALL HAVE THEM, BUT DO WE LISTEN TO THEM? IN THIS STORY YOU’LL FIND OUT HOW MY SISTER IN LAWS GUT FEELING SAVED HER LIFE!

     ON OCTOBER13, 2006 MY SISTER-IN-LAW TRICIA VELASQUEZ WENT IN TO HER REGULAR DOCTOR FOR A BREAST EXAM BECAUSE SHE HAD FELT A TINY LUMP AND HAD BEEN HAVING PAIN IN HER RIGHT BREAST FOR ABOUT TWO WEEKS.TRICIA IS ONLY 31 YEARS YOUNG, SO THE THOUGHT OF BREAST CANCER WAS KINDA FAR FETCHED BUT STILL LINGERED AROUND HER MIND ENOUGH TO CAUSE HER CONCERN AND SHARE THESE THOUGHTS WITH HER DOC. HE REASSURED HER THAT SHE WAS TOO YOUNG TO HAVE BREAST CANCER AND THAT BREAST CANCER DOES NOT HURT. DESPITE THE RESULTS OF HER MAMMOGRAM WHICH REVEALED THREE SMALL MASSES IN HER RIGHT BREAST, SHE WAS GIVEN ANT-BIOTICS AND SENT ON HER WAY BEING TOLD THAT IT WAS JUST AN INFECTION.

     ON NOVEMBER 23, 2006 TRICIA WENT BACK IN TO SEE HER DOCTOR AFTER BEING ON ANTI-BIOTICS FOR ONE MONTH STILL FEELING PAIN AND NOW NOTICING RIPPLES AND SWELLING ACROSS AND UNDER HER RIGHT BREAST, NOW FEELING VERY UNEASY AND SCARED BECAUSE THE “INFECTION” HADN’T GONE AWAY, AND ONCE AGAIN WAS TOLD “YOUR TOO YOUNG TO GET BREAST CANCER” AFTER LEAVING THE OFFICE SHE HAD A STRONG GUT FEELING THAT SOMETHING WAS WRONG AND HER DOC. WAS MISSING IT.

     TRICIA MET UP WITH A DOCTOR FRIEND OF HERS AND SHARED WHAT WAS GOING ON AND THEN SHOWED HER BREAST TO HER FOR A QUICK EXAM AND WAS TOLD “THIS IS NOT JUST AN INFECTION” GET HELP NOW.     ON JAN.3, 2007 TRICIA HAD A BIOPSY DONE WHICH CAME BACK POSITIVE FOR STAGE 3C BREAST CANCER AT AGE 31.

     THE DATE IS NOW APRIL 19, 2007 AND TRICIA HAS COMPLETED 8 ROUNDS OF CHEMOTHERAPY, MASTECTOMY, LYMPHECTOMY (REMOVAL OF 27 LYMPHNODES), AND 34 ROUNDS OF RADIATION. LOST ALL HER HAIR NOT TO MENTION COUNTLESS DAYS AND NIGHTS OF PAIN PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY ALL BECAUSE “SHE WAS TOO YOUNG FOR BREAST CANCER”. (AS TOLD BY HER DOCTOR) IF SHE WAS DIAGNOSED PROPERLY IN THE BEGINNING , WHEN THE MASSES WERE THE SIZE OF PEAS, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN STAGE ONE CANCER AND NOT STAGE3C .

     ALL GLORY TO GOD , TRICIA IS A SURVIVOR AND THANKS GOD FOR GIVING HER THE GUT FEELING THAT SOMETHING WAS NOT RIGHT AND DROVE HER TO GET A SECOND AND THIRD OPINION WHICH ULTIMATLEY SAVED HER LIFE. WOMEN AMD MEN, PLEASE DON’T JUST SETTLE FOR WHATEVER IS THROWN AT YOU, REMEMBER GOD HAS GIVEN YOU A HUNCHER AND IF YOU HAVE A HUNCH THAT IS NAGGING AT YOUR GUT, DON’T IGNOR IT!