"Shell-shocked"

Shell-shocked: mentally confused, upset, or exhausted as a result of excessive stress.

The doctor kept asking me if I was alone. She asked if my husband or someone could be with me. The way she was talking I thought I was going to die! She told me to get my husband and come on in to the office. I called him at work and he picked me up immediately. She saw us right away and showed us the pathology report. I didn't understand a word it said. I did, however, understand that she was diagnosing me with breast cancer. BREAST CANCER! Even during the mammogram, ultrasound and biopsy it had never occurred to me that the outcome would be breast cancer.

After some time of feeling mentally worn out by just taking in the news, I began to try to decode the pathology report. I talked to my Mom (who is also an RN) and my Dad (who is a medical technologist in a hospital lab). I looked up every word online. Information gives me comfort. What I came up with was this: the tumor is small, but aggressive.