This month I turn 62. In 2006 my PCP told me I could skip my yearly mamogram, because the past 3 had not change. I did skip 2007. In 2008 my gut feeling told me, "you had better go have a mamogram", so I did. The cyst that had been discovered in 2003 was gone and in it's place was an irregular shapped mass that was 3 times the size of the cyst. I didn't want to spoil my family's Christmas holiday, so on Jan. 2, 2009, I had a biopsy.
My cell phone range at work on Jan. 6, 2009. It was my doctor. She said, "I'm sorry to tell you, "You have Breast Cancer". What a day that was. Three weeks and 2 MRI's (one a guided biopsy) later, on Feb. 2, 2009, I went into the Women's Center of Northside Hospital in Atlanta and came out the next day minus my right breast. I didn't realize how numb my chest would be and how flat I would look. It's one thing to have an organ removed. But, when you start taking away visable body parts, that begins to play on your mind. I choose not to have reconstruction. I wish now that I had. As most 60 something women, I have plenty of donor tissue.
If I had listened to my PCP, my cancer would have been discovered a lot later and my out come might have been different. I live another day to enjoy my children and grandchildren.
I will be taking Arimidex for the next 5 years. Maybe for my 63rd birthday next year, I might see about getting me a new boob! In the mean time I will take care of the girl I have left.
Clarkesville, GA