I have Pagets Breast cancer. There is no lump. It did not show up on my mammogram or on an ultrasound. It started out on one nipple as dry skin. Later there would be what looked like cuts that would bleed. It is a rare form of breast cancer. I am finding someone everyday that has never heard of it. I have a decision to make. I can have a lumpectomy with radiation or a mastecomy with breast reconstruction and no radiation. I am 56 and have no history of breast cancer in my family. I have to be honest here. I am scared, I am not ready to die, and want another chance to live life, and be here for my children. Cancer is amazing and powerful. It makes you really take a look at the life you knew, and question what will come next. I have always taken care of everyone elses needs and made sure everyone was happy. Now I am finding that cancer causes you to become self centered. In a way taking care of others needs before my own, I think is a form of denile. As long as you are looking after others you don't have to look at yourself. All that has changed. I am forced to look at myself, and hope that I make the right decision. I think all my life I have always thought that if you are a good person only good things will happen to you. I now know that is the thoughts of the child I once was. Once you are told you have cancer it takes away those childhood notions, but the child in me wants to believe as I always have. Please tell one person about Pagets and ask them to do the same. Thanks

Katherine Alexander
Las Vegas, NV