In 2007 I was diagnosed with DCIS in the left breast. I had a lumpectomy and thirty-five rounds of radiation. Everything was going fine, or so I thought. In June 2011 I had a routine mammogram as I felt a lump in my right breast. It turned out to be stage 2/3 cancer. I underwent four rounds of chemo, a lumpectomy with lymph nodes removed, another four rounds of chemo and then thirty-five rounds of radiation. I finished all of this in May 2012 and am currently on a regime of Arimidex for five years. I go regularly for my follow up mammograms and credit my med team for saving my life. While going through all of this I was able to work and had a lot of support from my co-workers. At the end of 2012 both my husband (my biggest supporter) and I retired. This summer I had the BRCA-1 test, and it came back positive so I went ahead and had a complete hysterectomy. Years earlier I had thyroid cancer and had the thyroid removed.
This past summer I was honoured and privileged to speak as a survivor at the Cancer Survivor Celebration at the local hospital. It was truly amazing to see how many people have been touched by cancer and how each person dealt with their individual situation.
I feel very blessed that everything has worked out so well and I had such a huge and caring support team.
Beltsville, MD
