Five health-focused practices I adopted after having cancer in my 30s

As I sat on my OBGYN's exam table, he looked at me and said, "Here's the deal, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. If you have eight friends, statistically at least one of you will have breast cancer at some point in your life."

But I was 34. My kids were only 1 and 3. Carl and I were getting ready to celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary. I had just had my annual physical and was told I was a picture of health!

How was I the one in eight receiving a breast cancer diagnosis?

On Sunday, March 25, 2018, I stepped out of the shower and glanced in the mirror, noticing a skin discoloration on my left breast.

It looked purple-ish, like a healing scar, but there was no reason for it to be there.

So, I felt around for an impromptu self-exam. And that's when I felt it.

It felt like a walnut — hard and most certainly not supposed to be there.

My heart sank. I knew something wasn't right.

The next morning, a Monday, I called my OBGYN, Dr. Kirk Matthews at Wilkerson OBGYN, who was able to see me at the end of the day.

He also didn't think a walnut-sized mass should be in my chest, so he scheduled an appointment with a UNC Rex breast surgeon the next day.

The breast surgeon oversaw my first (and what would be my last) mammogram, an ultrasound, and the biopsy of the tumor and suspicious lymph nodes.

On a Wednesday, three days after I found the mass, I was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma that was HER2+ (hormone negative).

My cancer had spread outside of my milk ducts and into other breast tissue, including at least one lymph node. The cancer was feeding off of a mutated HER2 protein in my body, which made my cancer literally grow overnight.

HER2 positive breast cancer is considered extremely aggressive, and prior to 1998 it was pretty much a death sentence.

Fortunately, research and new therapies paved the way for a standard treatment of care for HER2+ patients.

When you have an aggressive cancer, you have an aggressive treatment plan. I knew at the beginning of my treatment that I'd need chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.

My chemotherapy included six rounds of "strong chemo," carboplatin and taxotere, as well as 18 rounds of targeted therapies, herceptin and perjeta.

In August 2018, I had a bilateral double mastectomy, where I learned I had a complete pathological response to chemo. It had worked! At this point I was considered "no evidence of disease," which is the ideal for any cancer patient.

During my mastectomy, I had expanders placed in my chest that would slowly stretch my skin in preparation for implants, which I'd have placed a year after radiation.

Even though I had no evidence of disease, my protocol called for radiation, since my tumor had come in large, at 6 cm. I had 28 days of radiation to my upper left quadrant in October/November 2018 to kill any rogue chest wall cancer cells.

My targeted therapies wrapped up in March 2019, and I had my expanders exchanged for implants in December 2019.

When I was going through cancer treatment, I desperately wanted to figure out how cancer happened to me, and how it could be prevented for the women around me.

Although I don’t have the answers for how it happened, I do have five-health focused practices I’ve adopted after cancer.

Write it down.

You may be able to see patterns with your symptoms that give you answers or clues to the actual issue. If you see a doctor about the concern, you’ll have your notes ready to share, making it easier for both of you to go through your symptoms.

At a minimum, make sure you see your primary care provider and OBGYN each year. By seeing these doctors once a year to get bloodwork and other preventative screenings, you build a relationship and set a baseline for when something comes up.

You can also get different vantage points for health concerns you have.

My post-cancer medical team includes my PCP, OBGYN, oncologist, dermatologist, dentist, nutritionist, chiropractor and licensed counselor. They know my medical history and are able to help me think through concerns as they arise.

The hardest part of preventative care is making the appointment and showing up. Been putting it off? Schedule it right now.

For breast self-exams, use the “feel it on the first” mantra. Complete a self breast exam on the first day of each month. Not sure how to do a self exam? The Cleveland Clinic has a great online resource.

Something doesn't seem right? Ask questions. Not sure what that bump is? Ask questions. You don't understand a diagnosis? Ask questions. You think that a recommendation may interfere with an existing condition or medication? Ask questions. Unsure about the answers to your questions? Ask more questions.

You have every right to understand what's going on with your body, so ask when you have questions about something.

When you have relationships with your medical team, they can answer your questions or refer you to someone who can.

Forget to ask a question at your appointment? Call the office. Ask the question.

And if you aren't sure about the answers you are receiving, get a second opinion. A good healthcare professional is not going to be offended by your receiving a second opinion.

Before cancer, I had been one of those "I'll sleep when I'm dead!" people. But when I was going through treatment, I quickly learned that rest was the best way to help my body recover from everything I was going through.

You know how we turn off our electronics to reset them when something isn't working? That's essentially what our body does when we sleep.

And I get it — we're all moms here. You don't think you have time to rest. You want time for yourself and that's only when the kids are in bed. Or, maybe you're like me, and you still have kids that get up at night.

Research shows that poor sleep is a contributor to health problems.

Whether it’s laying down for a while, catching a power nap or getting in the hours your body needs to sleep at night, find the time to rest. Cut out the things you don't need. Don't binge the show, don't mindlessly scroll for an hour, don't let other things take up YOUR precious rest time.