A LUMP? And so it begins

I am often asked the "how did you find it" question. The question has been asked in many different ways, so here it is....
I am now 42 years old. Somewhere around the age of 38 my doctor began to encourage me to get a mammogram.  I ignored her. At 40 she told me to do it, again I ignored her. I didn't ignore her purposefully, I just had " to much going on". I am not the type of person who doesn't go for test because I don't want to know, I believe the sooner you know, the better. I have also never been one for regular self exams. Maybe once or twice a year if I heard some Breast Cancer Awareness PSA or I heard of someone who was just diagnosed, but really.....NOT part of my normal routine.
It was in my morning shower some random day mid- February I felt IT!  I think I was just washing and felt a lump. A that point I did the "self exam" and sure enough, I had a lump about the size of my thumb. I am not one who sounds alarm bells right away, so in being true to who I am I figured.....nahhhh, just regular getting to be that time of the month lumpiness, I will check in a couple weeks and see if it is still there. I knew this felt different, so in a couple of weeks, I checked and of course my lump was still there, and I knew it felt different so I resolved to make my Doctor appointment.
Timing is EVERYTHING and our children always come first. About this time my 11 year old son got bit by a spider and to make a long, pretty disgusting story short, it got infected and I spent the next 2 and a half weeks taking him to the doctor every two days and not giving my "lump" a second thought.
I was still in the midst of bug bite infection hell, when a friend of mine and worship Pastor at my church was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. My heart broke for him and his family, but then that small voice telling me to get my lump checked became a shout. I made my appointment.
My regular doctor was out on maternity leave, and so I had to see a stranger. She was very kind, and did everything right, but it wasn't Mary, she didn't understand my sense of humor, or even why I was making jokes but we got through the appointment. She didn't need me to tell her where my lump was, she found it within a second of starting the exam. I left the office that day with orders to set up a mammogram and diagnostic ultrasound ASAP. She gave me referrals for a surgeon and Oncologist "just in case".  I was told 7 to 10 days after my mammogram and ultrasound she would receive the results and give me a call. This time I did not ignore.
I made the appointments at the Temecula Breast Center for the following Wednesday.  I told just a couple of friends, my two bosses at work and my daughter Ashleigh. The only reason I told Ashleigh is because, I needed her to help with carpool. I wasn't worried, I didn't want other people to worry. We didn't know anything yet.
I had never had a mammogram before, and it really wasn't as bad as I had heard. Some strange things happened that day though. The nurse doing my test starts with the normal conversation of how they will send the results to my doc. Within the first 2 minutes of the test she tells me they have a radiologist on staff who would be going over some results with me before I left. Hmmmmm
Then on to the ultrasound. Lots of clicking and lots of measuring.....hmmmmmm. When the ultrasound was over I was told to leave my gown on and wait in the waiting area for the radiologist to look.  There were 2 other women waiting, one already changed and another like me in her gown. A few minutes later I see the nurses of the 3 of us walk into the radiologist with our "pictures" and notice the folder my nurse is holding is a different color. Hmmmmm.  In a strange and rapid pace the nurses went to the other two and released them with the instructions of " results will be sent to your doc" my nurse asked me to follow her back into the exam room. "Oh Crap".
"Oh Crap" truly is what I said. The radiologist came in and took some more pictures and more measurements. Then said to me. "We would normally schedule you to come back for a biopsy, but would like to do it this morning if you have the time".  
While I waited,I sent a text to some friends to be praying for me. God was with me and kept me calm and anxious for nothing.
About an hour and a half later I was on my way back to work.... Biopsy done, titanium marker placed, and another mammogram to get a picture of the marker. Long morning.
PSA. Get your regular check ups and do regular self exams. As a matter of fact, your done reading for now. Go check your breasts. ( if there are any male readers, go tell the women in your life to check their breasts).