On Sunday, January 12th, I felt a pain on my left side, just under my bottom rib. It had been an on -and-off feeling since about May. Knowing that I had a two full weeks of budget meetings ahead of me at work and couldn’t miss a day of work, I decided to visit the local Augusta Health Urgent Care to see what was up. It was thought that maybe my spleen was having an issue.
Glen drove me to the University of Virginia Emergency Department where they took a CT scan to see what was going on. They informed me that when I broke my wrist back in March playing football with my grandson, I must have cracked a rib as well. I was fine with that. But then, the doctor placed her hand on my arm, looked me directly in my eyes, and said, “You also have metastatic cancer.”
I was completely shocked. In July, I had a mammogram that came back clear. I also had a bone density test that came back fine. My colonoscopy is up to date. This simply didn’t make sense. I was admitted to the hospital for three days of testing. I was repeatedly asked about my pain, and except for the probable cracked, and healing, rib, I felt fine. Every blood test they ran came back perfect. Monday, I was only allowed to walk around 3 east in the hospital. Tuesday, I was given permission to walk around the hospital. I was excited by that until I realized that I could possibly run into a colleague if I ventured off this floor. So, I walked laps around the 3rd floor most of the day Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday evening, my friend, Kelly, came to visit, and I made a wild trip to the cafeteria when no one was around. Woo-hoo!
They performed a biopsy on one of the spots on my hip, but the results weren’t ready when I was discharged Wednesday afternoon. I assured them I would be OK hearing the results over the phone. Plus, remember budget week at work? I really wanted to get back to work and something “normal”.
Thursday, I arrived at work at 7:00 AM like normal. My meetings began, and part of me thought maybe everything had been a bad dream. But then, the phone calls started one after another. First, the diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer, ER+, HER2-, and then various offices scheduling appointments. And so the journey began.
Kim Holman's Journey 