I was diagnosed with BC the day my son graduated preschool, and the day before my twins promoted from eighth grade. This was a shocking diagnosis Breast cancer does not run in my family so I was not in the least expecting it at the age of 41. I was diagnosed stage IIa invasive ductal carcinoma, triple negative. The triple negative means that my type of cancer does not respond to hormones or react the way normal breast cells do. It tends to occur in younger women and tends to be more aggressive. I was told my only options were, surgery, chemo and radiation. I was told that triple negatives tend to recur more often, but if I can make it past the 5 year mark that I should be home free. That is my goal, I WILL make it past the 5 year mark with no recurrence. I had a lumpectomy along with several sentinel nodes out. They removed a 1.8 cm tumor and 3 lymph nodes. Of the 3 nodes 1 had microscopic metastasis, so I had to have 9 more nodes out. Luckily it was only in the one node, but still put me in the path of chemotherapy and regular radiation. I had 6 rounds of chemo which was not easy. Some people can do chemo with little or no side effects, not me of course. I then completed 33 rounds of radiation. I finished 3 weeks ago and went out to celebrate. The Dr's will monitor me every 3 months for the next 5 years.
In this year I also survived my fathers death from Lung Cancer and my son's diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy. If I can do this, I can do anything.
Phoenix, AZ
