Put your hand up if the thought of being screened for breast cancer never crossed your mind until you or your doctor found a lump in your breast or armpit? I’m literally holding my left arm up in the air right now, as I type this. Crazy isn’t it, that we don’t think to have the girls checked to make sure they’re healthy until something goes wrong or until someone we know has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

As I tried to process my diagnosis and what it meant for me, along with the future I’d envisioned for myself, I went into research mode. It’s my comfort zone. I’m curious by nature and profession (being a writer and all), and having information, knowing everything that I need to know, makes me feel in control. So, I dug deep, Googled like a crazed person, and asked my doctors hundreds of questions while I tried as best as I could to prepare myself for the unknown that was to come. Here’s what I learned about being diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.