Nila Garcia

Survivor

I never do mammograms because of the embarrassment. I only did the mammogram because if I file for divorce I may lose my insurance. I went to the doctor to get a clean bill of health, I thought I was talked into doing a mammogram but when I did it I found out I had breast cancer. I had no idea what I was headed for, what I was going to go through, or what was going to happen. I knew nothing about cancer, I thought I was just going to have surgery and be done with it. When I found out I had to go through radiation I almost lost my mind. The embarrassment that I had to go through I almost didn’t go. I almost walked out, I cried all the time. I didn’t eat or sleep and trying to be comfortable around everybody that was involved was not easy. I was so uncomfortable with one person once that I couldn’t bring myself to go back to radiation. I had to start talking to a counselor, it helped me a lot. She helped me get through my radiation that I wasn’t going to do. Then I found out I had to take medicine for five years, it was just one thing after another it seemed. I felt like I never had support through the whole thing, both emotionally and financially. I went through four surgeries and had to plans to go live with my son in South Carolina but I couldn’t leave because I had to stay home until I got all my medical stuff done. Now that I am done with almost everything I get to leave for South Carolina and stay with my son and work on getting myself back together. I am emotionally drained, I still just can’t believe this all happened to me in the blink of an eye.