My Cancer Journey: The Diagnosis (Part 1)

Hi, welcome back to Life Captured.

While scrolling through my phone’s photo gallery the other day, I stopped on a specific picture taken during my cancer treatments. If you’ve visited my “About Debra Ellen” page, you might already know that I am a cancer survivor. But today, I want to invite you a little deeper into that chapter of my life and share more about the journey.

My Cancer Journey

My cancer journey started in January 2003 with symptoms I easily dismissed as a routine asthma flare-up. But soon, the simplest movements began to drain me. Climbing a short flight of stairs or walking out to get the mail left me completely breathless. Nights became the hardest part. Lying down comfortably was impossible, forcing me to prop myself up with pillows just to get some rest. It felt like leaning against a wall with someone pressing their hand right into the middle of your chest. Not shoving, but leaning their full weight into you. That relentless pressure never went away.

One night in May, I awoke to a sharp pain in my left shoulder. I remember thinking to myself, if this were on my right side, I’d think I was having a heart attack. (The left side is the side to hurt if heart attack) The discomfort and fear were so overwhelming that I found myself praying, “God, if you’re going to take me, please just do it now.”

Sleep never came back that night. Early the next morning, I got up to drive my son, Adam, to school for football training. My plan was to call the doctor as soon as the office opened. But after dropping him off, the routine of daily life took over. I drove home, started washing dishes, and threw in a load of laundry. By the time I finally remembered to make the call, it was too late to be squeezed in for a same-day visit. Instead, they scheduled me for the following day, the first Tuesday in June. The nurse told me that if the pain got any worse in the meantime, to go straight to the hospital.

The Diagonsis

My husband- Kevin, works in construction, and during the summer, he routinely worked late. On this specific day, though, I called and requested that he come home on time, no overtime. Once he was home, I made dinner and we ate. Afterward, I took a breathing treatment. However- thirty minutes later, the inhaler hadn’t given me any relief. The pressure was too much, and I knew I couldn’t wait. I asked Kevin to take me to the emergency room.

At the hospital, everything started out normally as they began running standard procedures. I received a really effective breathing treatment, had my heart checked, and was sent for a chest X-ray. The first sign that something was wrong came on my way back to the room. The medical staff were all staring at me, and I distinctly heard someone murmur, “Look, she’s smiling.”

It felt like a strange reaction to a standard asthma patient, but I shrugged it off and got back into bed to wait. When the doctor entered, the tone completely shifted. Instead of talking about my lungs, he began asking unexpected questions. Wanting to know if I had noticed any lumps in my breasts or if I was lactating.

“No, why?” I asked, completely caught off guard. “I came in because my asthma was acting up.”

Then came the words that turned my world upside down. The doctor looked at me and explained that they suspected cancer, and they were trying to determine whether this was the primary or secondary site.

I was admitted to the hospital that very night. While Kevin called my parents to share the news and see if the kids could stay with them, the hospital staff contacted my primary care doctor. Looking back, that night was the exact moment the life I knew changed forever; it was the beginning of my new normal.

Because there is so much to this story, I’m breaking my journey down into a series of posts instead of sharing it all at once. In the next part, I’ll take you through the details of my diagnosis and that first hospital stay. But I promise there’s a happy ending ahead. A whole new perspective on how bad things can lead to good outcomes.