I had just celebrated my 50th birthday on a trip to Paris - a gift from my parents. A single mom for several years, I was dating a wonderful man and life was looking great. So I finally made the time to get that 'funny" spot on my breast looked at - it was starting to bother me, the better part of a year after I'd first noticed it. It was just a kind of thickening area, a hardness that wasn't well-defined, so I assumed it was just scar tissue or a fibroid. I'd had regular normal mammograms for the past several years so cancer wasn't a concern. Instead I worried about whether or not my insurance would cover it if it was something related to my breast augmentation 10 years before.
A clinical breast exam was immediately followed by a diagnostic mammogram, biopsies, and the diagnosis: invasive metastatic lobular carcinoma, hidden behind my implants. It was too large and spread out for lumpectomy, with at least one lymph node involved. I opted for a bilateral mastectomy because I didn't want to have to think about re-visiting the issue.Fortunately it had not attached to the chest wall, although it got pretty close, and about half of the nodes removed were positive. I was referred to a fantastic oncologist who treated me with a very aggressive course of chemo for 6 months, followed by radiation. My sons, my extended family & friends, my church, and my phenomenal boyfriend took great care of me and kept me positive. I never went to an appointment, test, procedure, or treatment alone.
It was a fight, but we won it! I have just celebrated my first complete year being cancer-free; and am about to celebrate my first wedding anniversary as well :) Life is good!
Antelope Valley, CA
