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I have a wingman

I was diagnosed with Stage 3 invasive lobular carcinoma on April 1, 2012. This was not at all a laughing matter. My tumor was found on my baseline mammogram. My husband and I very quickly made the decision together to go forward with a bilateral mastectomy since we had a 12 and 8 year old at the time. We wanted the best chance for survival. My mastectomy was exactly 23 days from my diagnosis. I work in the medical profession and had access to talk to several of the oncologists at the hospital I worked at. I turned to my family doctor and with tears in our eyes we asked what now. My family doctor made the following statement... " I love you guys like you are my family. I want you to have the best so if you will trust me with your care I will get you the best." We have had the absolute best care. I can say my oncologist made sure I had the best medications available while going through chemo. I had a total of 16 rounds of chemo. I did not have radiation since my lymph nodes were negative. I completed my last chemo on November 5, 2013. My oncologist made arrangements for plastic surgery for my reconstruction. I can truely say I have the best team taking care of me and my family. I must say it is a lot faster to remove your breasts than it is to have them replaced. I am blessed to have a support system and a medical team that put me and my needs first. I am a survivor.

Denice
Abilene, TX

Detours

As strong as I believe that we have the ability to guide our fate through to it's proper destiny, I have come to the reality that it is God's hand that sends us on detours as a reminder of His power & plan for us. 6 years ago today He did just that, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I don't know why it is that one's struggle leads to a long and grueling (what seems like a lifetime) battle, and another to an ultimate fate. What I do know is that so long as we fight with all our heart & soul, we are all survivors. I've learned to take time to smell the flowers, count the stars, chase a rainbow & dance in the rain. And more than anything I've learned that every breath is a moment in the past so I live that moment as if it were my last......

Anonymous
Riverside, CA

My Victory over Breast Cancer

It began March 24th 2006, I took a day off of work and planned to take my kids to the movies and lunch. As I was getting ready I felt a lump on one side of my left breast. It didn't hurt and it was an odd shape, which scared me. I check myself on a regular basis because of a BENIGN tumor that was found 3 years prior I spent an hour in my room debating whether to ignore or call the doctor. I finally made the call, they got me right in. The doctor assured me that cancer at 38 was not common, most likely a cyst, but scheduled me for a mammogram and ultra sound for Monday the 27th.
I received a call from my doctor the morning after, he informed me that I needed to see a surgeon right away, due to the calcification clusters that were found. My Husband and I met with the surgeon that very afternoon and had surgery scheduled for the 30th to remove the lump.
I was still thinking positive, this was not cancer, until my husband informed me after the surgery that the one lump had turned two since my mammogram and that we needed to call the surgeon the next afternoon.
It was official, I had cancer. Stage 3 no less. My world just stopped. I did not have time to let it all sink in though, we had to move fast. Within a week I was in for a left breast mastectomy and 3 weeks was meeting my oncologist.. By June I was starting Chemo. This went on until October 13th 2006.
When I went for my first post chemo exam I was in remission!!!
I have been cancer free for 7 years and counting. I have been blessed. It all truly sucked but I believe I am a stronger person because of it. I am a fighter and now a winner.

Susie
Westland, MI

Just Turned 35

It was just over a month after my 35th birthday that I was getting ready for work, getting out of the shower and putting my bra on. I remember thinking that the right one felt different. Didn't really pay to much concern to it. About a week later, the right one felt a lot different. I worked as a medical assistant and knew in my heart that something wasn't right. My mom and stepdad had just moved from California to here about 6 months earlier, after he had some health issues. My mom had lived in California since I was about a year old. Long story short, I was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma, had a right radical mastectomy. I tried for a bilateral mastectomy, but because of my age or what not, that didn't happen. Went through chemo, surgery, chemo and then radiation. My mother was here for me after all of those years in California, at the right time, and for the right reasons. Cancer is never a good thing, but I feel that some things happen for a reason. I am so thankful to have her back with me. I'm almost 8 years in remission, still on meds, still going strong, everyday thankful to get to be with her, and everyday is another chance to just live.

Karen
Burton, MI

Surprised

I have been getting my yearly Mammogram since I was 40, no one in my family had Breast Cancer. I was shocked when on June 2011 based on the views obtained, there is an abnormal area on my that I go get a Post Breast Biopsy.
So when they told me it was Ductal Carcinorma (Cancer) I was so surprised.

On August 8, 2011 had to have Breast Surgery the surgeon told me that they got it all.
Even though it was only Stage 0 I still need to have 33 days of Radiation and Take one of the Cancer drugs for the next 5 years.

I saw my Surgeon for the last time back in Aug.2013 he said I made it clean for 2yrs. I still going very 3 mo. to get blood work and
get my prescription need to do the for 3 more yrs. I feel blessed that they found it early.

Bethany Tomlins
Beacon, NY

My Adventure

When I was diagnosed I was 40 years old and at the end of my second semester of nursing school in May 2013. I had never had a mammogram before, but happened to notice that the skin and pores on my right breast looked different than the left. I had also been measured and purchased new bras at the beginning of February 2013 and my right breast had gotten larger so that my new bras did not fit. I went from noticing something was wrong to starting chemotherapy in a matter of three weeks. In those three weeks, I had a MUGA scan, PET scan, CT scan, transvaginal ultrasound, and had a port placed. I spent my summer vacation from school going to chemotherapy. I was able to attend nursing classes half time this fall, even though I took off two weeks for a double mastectomy. I am scheduled to start my radiation treatments on November 25 and started my last year of chemotherapy two weeks ago.
My family and my classmates have been incredible during this whole adventure. I lived with my parents in their spare bedroom for the summer and after surgery, while keeping my college apartment. I have not worked very many hours since this all started. Initially, because I had some sort of appointment almost every day of the week and later because of the side effects of the chemotherapy and the medications to treat those side effects. My sisters and their families have been very supportive, although it makes me a little sad that the little kids know what the pink ribbon stands for, but they are so proud to show me pink things they have because of me. My classmates check up on me all the time to make sure I don't need anything. This picture of me is at a party they had for me at the beginning of October, after my last primary chemotherapy treatment, before my surgery.

Maria Schmidt
Grand Forks, ND

I had always thought you 'felt' breast cancer. I was wrong.

After all, I didn't feel any lumps so I thought I was ok. But I had extensive DCIS, early stage but aggressive. I'd skipped my mammogram a few years due to other issues. But when I suddenly had irritation on my breast, something told me I should schedule one. They'd always been normal in the past. But this time was different.

I received a notification for me to come back for additional screenings. This time the radiologist spoke to me before I left. The additional views had shown some suspicious microcalcifications that weren't on my previous mammogram. He asked me how I'd felt "because I look well". I told him I'd been very fatigued. That was enough for him to recommend a biopsy.

Fast forward to the call from my Dr. office regarding my biopsy. The nurse wanted me to come in to go over my results. I'll never forget the look on my doctor's face when he walked into the room where I was waiting. "I wish I had better news". My mind wondered as he talked and explained the results. I didn't hear much of what he said. But I remember him holding the results in front of me & circling the word 'carcinoma'.

I had a lumpectomy within a week of my diagnosis. The surgeon said had I waited just 6 months, there's no telling how much it would've spread. I had 7 weeks of radiation, no chemo because I found the cancer early.

I talk about my experience as much as I can because I want women to know how important regular mammograms are. Because I didn't feel lumps, I thought I was in the clear. I'd never heard of DCIS.
Radiation was difficult for me the last few weeks. I'd been given 7+ creams to use for the burns & blisters. You learn to use your support system & ask for help during the tough days.

I'm so thankful that I listened to my instincts & got that mammogram. I hope my story will encourage women to get theirs as well. Fight like a girl!

Lin Kelly
Rochester, IN

Ten Years On

Ten years ago, right after my 50th birthday, I got a diagnosis that changed my life. A routine mammogram had found a "shadow" that turned out to be two small tumors in my left breast. I chose to have a mastectomy, and was fortunate in that there was no sign of the cancer metastasizing. I had radiation treatments, and then moved on.
For several years, I was a nervous wreck at every mammogram on my right breast, but eventually, my yearly check-up returned to a routine. My life, however, was anything but. In the year following my surgery, my father died in a fire, and my step-mother had a fatal stroke. Suddenly, I had nothing tying me to my home in Pennsylvania, so I made the bold step to take early retirement from my teaching job, sell my house, and move across the country to Los Angeles, where I've lived now since 2006.
Since then, I have had a magical life here in the land of "swimming pools, movie stars." I worked for Disney in their online division for four years, and I volunteered four times a year at an autograph show, meeting almost every celebrity I grew up loving and even becoming friends with many of them. I have a house in a beautiful area of the San Fernando Valley (rented, but I love it as my own), and I have a roommate who is a terrific friend, and I have a dog I adore. Life is good!
My message to anyone facing cancer is that it is NOT a the end of the world. Yes, it may be the end of life as you have known it. But if you embrace the change, allow yourself to learn the lessons that even catastrophic change can teach, you can rebuild a life beyond your dreams.

Melissa Byers
West Hills, CA

Round 2

My mom was diagnosis with breast cancer a few years ago in her left breast lucky she caught it before it got any bigger. She took it like a champ and made a speedy recovery. A few months ago she felt a lump in her right breast. She went to the dr. And they did there test and told her she has stage 4 breast cancer. This time the kemo really messed her up she would be in the hospital for a week after ever treatment. She goes in on Wednesday for surgery. She is really scared this time I wanted to post something up for her so she can see that people are backing her up and saying prayers. Her name is Cathy.

Miles
Escondido, CA

You know your body the best...

Listen to your body - don't ignore it. I listened. In October 2012 at the age of 48, I had a 3 week long period and found a lump on my breast. A mammogram and core biopsy confirmed I have Her2+ breast cancer which wasn’t there 15 months earlier on my prior mammogram. I had 16 rounds of chemo followed by a double mastectomy. Pathology reports are promising; 23 nodes were clear on cancer side, 9 nodes clear on the other side. After 33 radiation treatments I will have a hysterectomy because I am BRCA2. I move forward with faith and the support of family, friends and a team of doctors. Reconstruction, if I choose to do it, will come at a later time. Fear can be overwhelming. Don't let it win. I am a survivor and will keep fighting!!!

Janet
Auburn, AL