"Is your boob shrinking or has it always been that way?" - my sister
Sometime last summer at the pool my sister looked at me and commented about my chest (Gotta love sisters - always the critic!) :)
My response was in the category of "uh, I don't know, I don't think so..." Later I told this story to my cancer surgeon and she actually said, "I love sisters, comments like that build awareness and save lives." Don't feel bad sister, though I know you do anyway. The doctor thinks this awareness saved my life and you'll see why in a bit. Across the fall I did start paying more attention and noticed more 'off things' until finally the week before Thanksgiving I thought, 'I have to go to a doctor' so I did, the 1st of December.
Oh... some things you should know about me:
2000: Spring Training 10th Grade: Nobody Trains for Second Place - the slogan on the tee shirt the the women's varsity coach handed me when I made varsity. We wore that tee shirt on top of our uniforms while we rowed out to the starting line for every single varsity race I ever rowed. I still have it, though the wording has almost entirely faded away.
2002: Pre Race Huddle before Nationals: "Every race in the world is only six inches long- the distance from ear to ear. Winning is a mindset, you already did the work to be here." -the women's varsity coach
2010: Mile 18 of my 3rd Marathon: "Just keep swimming." My sister and I just passed the 18th mile marker, easily one of the hardest milestones in marathoning. It's a crazy long distance and your tired already, but you still have 8.2 fucking miles to go. My sister is quoting Dory in Finding Nemo when Nemo asks her what she does when she doesn't know what else to do. It's become a mantra for me when I'm running and I just don't feel like I can go any further.
*(This title is 100% plagiarized from a book I read) - which I recommend, only I can't find it on the internet anymore otherwise I'd have shared the link with you.