Thanks to everyone who sent me personal e-mails. The stories really touch me and I appreciate them.

They also point out what a big issue this is for women and how fearful many of us are. No matter the outcome, whether benign or malignant, we all have anxiety and fear when we're dealing with the possibility of cancer.

Two years ago, at the age of 49, I had never had a mammogram and only sporadically did breast self exams. When I became aware of a painful lump in my left breast, I was certain it was a reaction to all the hype surrounding Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is October. Denial can be pretty darn creative, don't you think?

I finally got totally fed up with the lack of service at my server hosting facility, so the past two weeks have been spent moving web sites to a new server.

Can't believe it's been 9 months since I last posted about our (un)Empty Nest. Life goes on. Quenton is still
living with us, he's 16 months old now, walking very well and learning new words almost daily, seems like. His
dad, our oldest son, is in northern Iraq with the Army's 10th Mountain Light Infantry Division, 1st Battalion,
stationed in Kirkuk. Thankfully he's been safe, hasn't had any really close calls himself, but another company
of his battalion was recently hit hard by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) at a patrol base

Happy anniversary to me. One year ago, I had a mastectomy.

Just saying that makes me feel like I'm in some kind of 12-step program. "Hello, my name is Julie Weight and I'm a cancer survivor."

I don't feel like a cancer survivor, although I'm not sure what cancer survivors are supposed to feel like. Every time I look in the mirror, move my left arm, get dressed and go to the doctor for a checkup, I'm reminded that I did, indeed, have cancer. In spite of all that, it's rather easy to forget I'm a cancer survivor.

So by now everyone knows my excisional biopsy was positive for cancer. DCIS with microinvasion, to be precise, with DCIS at every margin.

We all know what comes next. More surgery, punctuated by lymph node localization so they can do a biopsy at the same time.

April 25, 2007.

It's not like I forgot this "anniversary," but I did have to look at my medical records to find out the exact date. That was the day I had a biopsy for a lump in my left breast. I said I'd blog about it after a year and so here I am.

The biopsy itself isn't really the story. The real story is what leads up to the biopsy and what happens after the biopsy. The real story is about being the patient instead of the MT.