Alderdice nervously asked if everything was okay ?
“ The radiologist came in , looked at and said I needed to come back for a biopsy ,” Alderdice stated . “ I told them I ’ m from out of town and asked if they could do the biopsy today ? They did the biopsy and I asked , “ Is it the cancer ?”
Her doctors did not confirm or deny she had cancer , but they did tell her she was going to have to have some surgery . They had to send Alderdice ’ s biopsy off to the lab for results the following week .
As it turned out , it was Alderdice ’ s birthday on that particular weekend . With an entire weekend to ponder the results of her biopsy , Alderdice canceled all her weekend birthday plans .
The weekend passed and Alderdice was showing a home one evening when she got word that she had breast cancer .
“ I was showing a house and another one of my physicians called me and said , ‘ Oh Susan , I ’ m so sorry ’,” Alderdice stated . “’ I just heard ’, she said , and I said , ‘ what did you hear ?’” Alderdice ’ s physician confirmed the news she had been dreading the entire weekend .
“ So I got off the phone , continued showing the house and the guy said , ‘ Did you get a bad report on something ?’,” Alderdice stated . “ He said , ‘ I kind of didn ’ t mean to hear , but I heard ’.”
At that point , the usual jovial Alderdice broke down and cried in front of three of her clients . The young couple and the husband ’ s mother-in-law stood there watching as Alderdice wept uncontrollably .
“ I am crying in front of all three of them and then the husband ’ s mother-in-law started crying too ,” Alderdice stated . “ I apologized to them , and they ended up buying the house anyways .”
Once Alderdice got over the emotional shock of being told she had cancer , she had a specific plan on how she was going to deal with it and attack it .
“ I always thought if I ever had to have breast cancer surgery , I wouldn ’ t do just part of it or a lumpectomy or take one and then
the other ,” Alderdice stated . “ I knew in my mind what my decision was going to be . My daughter is a PA and she had a lot of patients that had breast cancer . So I listened to her about where to go , what surgeon , or what plastic surgeon .”
“ I was very fortunate because I used to work in the medical field , my ex-husband , my son and my daughter , all are in the medical field and I had a lot of medical support ,” Alderdice stated . “ Once I was diagnosed with cancer , then I knew I didn ’ t want to waste a lot of time about what to do .”
Alderdice had originally talked about going to the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center . But after watching her mother Elizabeth Warner painfully lose her battle to cancer there several years prior , she couldn ’ t see herself going back to the Markey Cancer Center just because of those hurtful memories .
With the help of the cancer staff at Central Baptist , Alderdice felt reassured that everything was going to be all right .
606-875-1270
Sherri Frye
Realtor
Friend
Grandmother
Aunt
Mother
Neighbor
Daughter
Find A Cure Breast Cancer Awareness
Co-worker
Sister sherrifryesells @ gmail . com
September 2022 SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky • 11