My Story

The picture of me is from happier days before I found out I have
breast cancer - invasive ductal carcinoma and ductal carcinoma in situ
- on 11/22/10. After a follow-up sonogram the same day as my mammogram
(11/18/10), a vacuum assisted core needle biopsy was done the very next
day. The tumor is between 1 and 2 cm, and between stages 1 and 2. No
lymph node involvement is suspected, but two other suspicious areas
were found in the same breast and biopsied, with benign results. An
identical spot was also found in the right breast. The proposed
treatment began as a lumpectomy with radiation, but is now a double
mastectomy with reconstruction because there's so much "traffic" in my
breasts that it will be very hard to detect future cancers.

I thought it
would never happen to me, despite having a family history of two breast
cancer deaths. I was so unconcerned, in fact, that my last mammogram
was 2 days shy of a year and 9 months ago. What prompted me to finally
get it done was thinking, at the suggestion of my chiropractor, that I
may have developed breast scar tissue from an unrelated injury. I
believe that everything happens for a reason and that the "why" behind
my injury, which bruised my ribs and breast for an entire month, was to
get me into that radiology clinic before any more time passed. I am
forever grateful that I didn't wait any longer.

My life has
irreversibly changed since that day. I had to contact my professors to
arrange for taking exams early so I could keep up with all my doctor
appointments. My plans to attend my last semester at Arizona State
University in January '11, prior to graduating with a BA in Psychology,
have been postponed until the fall semester because new developments
kept coming to light and delaying my surgery. I had begun the process
of applying to grad schools, which I'd planned to attend in the fall of
2011, but now need to contact those schools and tell them I won't be
attending until the spring of 2012. Most disturbing of all is that my
health insurance will now be exorbitantly expensive, thanks to the
"scarlet C."

I've been
commanded by the universe to really live one day at a time, instead of
just imagining that I am and making excuses for planning unnecessarily
far into the future. Cancer has become my job - changing my diet (I've
lost 9 pounds so far); cutting out carbs, fruit, refined sugar, animal
fat (including dairy), and hormone-riddled meat; juicing leafy greens I
never thought I'd buy (like dandelion); attending the Palm Lane Cancer
Club (aka The Wellness Center) activities like yoga and a support group
to get my stress under control; registering with the Cancer Cab (aka
American Cancer Society rides service) to be driven to appointments
that involve drugs or procedures that prohibit driving myself; and
numerous hours on the internet spent seeking financial support for
cancer patients since I'm unemployed and had been living on student
loans, which will quickly be exhausted.

In surfing different websites to find out more
information about the type of cancer I have, locate support groups, and
see what services are out there, I've found some pretty comprehensive
offerings except for one service that only one organization offered.
For those with cancer whose family or friends are unable to help out,
volunteers are available to assist with tasks of daily living - grocery
shopping, cooking, loading the dishwasher, doing the laundry, getting a
glass of water when you can't imagine how you'll stand up, much less
walk. I'm wondering if establishing this service nationwide, or at
least offering it through other organizations, might be one reason I'm
going through this experience. Regardless, I'm preaching the importance
of mammograms and exhorting every woman I see to get it done. If it
saves a life, then this nightmare may have some semblance of value.