I was proactive in requesting to havemammograms every six months, and I was very informative with my doctor about my history. When I had the mammograms, my cancer did not show up as cancer on my mammograms. It wasn't until they did the biopsies that they determined that it was cancer. And I had multiple mammograms, and then I had ultrasounds, and then from the ultrasounds they decided to do abiopsy because, again, the information was unclear.

And my cancer was unusual and it was tender and sore, which was something that was a little different too. I've had doctors tell me,oh, well, cancer isn't painful. Well, mine was, and it was painful, and I would have these burning, sharp, painful outbursts.

The sensations in and around my breast felt like someone was stabbing me or felt like my skin was on fire or the tissue underneath was on fire, and so I knew that something was going on. I talk with the radiologist and doctor assesses the information from the radiologist. And then I ended up going in for an ultrasound, and we reviewed the ultrasounds and saw that there was tissue that was abnormal and or dense or different, and then I wait for those results.

It was a Friday afternoon, and I was home. This was during COVID so everybody was kind of cloistered in, and I remember hearing myphone ring, and I had expected to receive a call from my doctor, so I had been waiting for this, but this wasn't my doctor. It was hospital. So I picked it up, and the nurse navigator introduced herself, and she's like "Hi, Isabelle, this is your nurse navigator, and I'm here to get you scheduled for your appointment with your breast surgeon"

And I was just so confuse. It was a really startling conversation, and obviously one that was not intended. I'm a mom of three kids. My kids were 15, 12 and 9 at that time. I didn't know how far things had progressed. I knew nothing and of course, she felt absolutely terrible, and we tried to backtrack and figure out kind of how the mistakes happened, but because of COVID there was just no way of things just happened the way that they did as they could. I have to get COVID tests before I go in. It was just a myriad of hurdles that you had to overcome during this period of time, and it was it was overwhelming and terrifying.

And and when I reflect back. I'm so thankful to my support system. I'm so thankful for my mom who'd been through it. I'm so thankful for the questions I was able to ask some of my friends who took me under their wing and guided me through this process.

A double mastectomy for cancer, have numerous physically disabling side-effects that patients have from surgery and become accustomed to living with. I feel fortunate that my Pilates training and conditioning helped me avoid and overcome many of these land-mines. I am determined to pass on this knowledge to others, now opening my own studio to cancer survivors post-surgery and to others confronting a new diagnosis of breast cancer.

I have always been involved in healing work, from being a top anti-infective and analgesic specialist and trainer for Ortho McNeil/J&J, to owning my own Pilates studio, which offers goal oriented wellness through Pilates. I taught up to the day of my surgeries, experiencing for myself the powerful connection between exercise and health.

Movement is imperative, to optimizing and maintaining the health and strength of our bodies and Minds… and of our circulatory system – the primary delivery system for nutrition and treatment to our cells and is what keeps us young.

I am determined to share this knowledge and help empower and protect women from the land-mines that come with treatments without preparation of the body.