I was 30 when I found the lump. It was in my left breast, under my arm. I couldn't call my mom because she had died 6 years earlier, at the age of 49, of metastatic breast cancer.
I called my dad and he took me for a mammogram. They sent me to a surgeon directly from their office.
It ended up being Tubular carcinoma. Only a couple of cells, the rest was pre-cancerous. The doctor had removed the entire left half of my breast. He felt I was safe.
Six months later I found a lump in my right breast. The biopsy showed that it was pre-cancerous.
I was scared to death. It seemed like I had just watch my mother die from this terrible disease that was haunting me. My children were whispering to one another, "Is mommy gonna die?"
One doctor suggested I consider having a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. I thought he was crazy. By that time I was 31 and a single mother.
The more I thought about it the more I realized that it was the answer. If I had no breasts there could be no breast cancer.
I checked with my insurance and yes, they would cover both the mastectomy and the reconstruction.
Less than a year after that first malignancy I had both breasts removed. Inside my right breast was another tumor, also pre-cancerous.
That was 18 years ago. I no longer worry about me getting breast cancer because I did what a lot of people think of as "radical". It kept me alive all these years.
Please, think about being "radical" should this happen to you. If you are young and it looks like you have a lifetime of fighting breast cancer consider the route I took.
Pensacola, FL
