In the fall of 2004 I was changing jobs and decided that I should go and have the mammogram that my doctor had recommended the year before. I was so busy working I just didn't bother to make the time. When the doctor came in he said that they saw something on my right breast which he believed to be cancer. I asked him what he thought that I should do and he said "if you were my mother or sister I would have it removed." I took his advise and went to a surgeron who advised me to have a biospy because I was only 41 and why would I want to go through a surgery and destroy my breast. The long and short of it was I did the biospy which turned out to be cancer.I ended up having two lumpectomies two weeks apart only to find that they still did not get it all. I was in so much pain after waking up from the second surgery and so discourged because it still was in me. I made a life alterning decision that day and decided that I could easy live without a breast but not without being around to see my children grow up. I decided to have a mastecomy with reconstruction.I speak of these events often and openly because if I could ever express anything to any women it is that while your family is the most important thing to you,if you do not take care of yourself, you won't be around to be there to help them grow. The other thing I learned from this experience is that a breast is just a breast they can be replaced but you as a wife, mother, significant other or sister you can never be.

Robbin Lindell
Reno, NV