Breast Cancer, Not Just For Women

According to the American Cancer Society, eight out of ten women
will be diagnosed with Breast Cancer And men are not exempt It
affects more of us then we can ever imagine Since there had
been no history in my maternal family line of breast cancer, I
felt I was at a very small to no risk Of course, it would never
happen to me On my father’s side of the family, there were two
sisters with breast cancer, one in her late forties and again in
her seventies and the other in her seventies when they were
diagnosed
Faithfully, I went for my yearly exams to my ob/gyn Never had I
had any lumps in my breasts during an exam Although I was in my
mid-forties, I had not yet had a mammogram My list of reasons
for not doing it and my excuses were probably just like yours if
you haven’t done it either My doctor had advised upon getting
one; but I didn’t sense any urgency I had just gone through
pregnancy and nursing
Considerably late in life, I gave birth to my son I was busy
being a new Mom, breast-feeding and basking in the glory of my
little miracle Fortunately, my pregnancy was fairly easy and I
had a very healthy baby in spite of my age Jason was 7 lbs 8
oz and 21 ½ ” long! Big enough for me thank you! My doctor
advised that when I stopped breast-feeding to allow a little
time and then we’d schedule a mammogram Again, there was no
urgency, just advice
While I was nursing, the very tip of my nipple developed a very
small sore I had had some difficulty nursing and some
irritations; and this small sore seemed no more than part of
that When I fist pointed it out to my doctor, she said it was
nothing She thought it was a breast-feeding irritation
Several more months went by I stopped breast-feeding and gave
my nipple time to heal It didn’t Conscious that my body didn’t
usually take this long to heal, I went in to see another doctor
and get a second opinion She said it’s either nothing at all or
a very rare form of breast cancer She scheduled a mammogram
Immediately following the mammogram was my appointment with the
surgeon and he diagnosed me with a rare breast cancer called
Paget’s Disease The dismay and shock I felt made it hard for me
to find my way out of the Doctor’s office As I sat in my car in
the hospital-parking garage, I screamed and screamed, wondering
if I would live long enough to raise my now two-year-old son
After the initial shock, there were moments when I would feel a
tremendous calm in spite of all the emotional chaos When I
could be in touch with my feelings, I knew that God was with me
through this entire ordeal Two weeks after diagnosis, and just
two weeks before Christmas, I had a mastectomy! On Christmas Eve
my gift was the removal of the drainage tubes from surgery I
went through chemotherapy treatment and lost 95% of my hair
Although I never went completely bald, wigs and hats became my
new fashion statement I loved that I could put my head out of
the car window when driving, enjoy the speed and not mess up my
hair! Now that was pretty cool
Every person’s experience with cancer is very personal and no
two people seem to have the exact same experience even though we
all go through similar treatments One thing that was amazing to
me, people that you barely know will step up and lend their help
and support in unexpected and amazing ways And sometimes,
people whom you would expect to be supportive are not Many
close friends and family are at a total loss as what to do to
help a loved one They are so afraid for you and for themselves
It was a conscious decision on my part to ask as many people as
possible to add me to their prayers Although I am a spiritual
woman, I would not say I am deeply religious This was not a
time to be shy, coy or modest My life was at risk! Many women
and men that didn’t know me or vice versa, included me in their
prayers and on prayer boards I firmly believe their prayers
made a hugh difference in my getting through the cancer as well
as I did Some people even today keep me in their prayers even
though the obvious cancer is gone; and I have been cancer free
for nearly three years I welcome and appreciate those prayers
and always say thank you The power of prayer is strong
An example of my getting through fairly well are, my red blood
cell count levels never went below normal even though I had
months of chemotherapy Some people loose their blood count
levels after the first treatment I had my chemotherapies on
Fridays One Friday, I was to join my friends on an annual trip
to the mountains in Idyllwild for hiking and relaxing On
Saturday, the day of the hike, I decided to go and just go for
as far as I could or was comfortable for me As the trail wound
up the mountain, I found the view and the fresh air exhilarating
and energizing I ended up hiking that day for about five to
seven miles! Now that may not sound like a lot when you’re
healthy; but after chemo, it’s quite a feat Needless to say the
next day I was very tired; but it was a good kind of tired; and
I felt proud of myself for even being able to do it
I came to realize that although having Cancer is an awful
experience, God meant for me to go through it for some reason
It is also not the worst challenge a person can have I can look
at the challenges that others go through and feel I am blessed
that mine was “only” breast cancer There is always something
worse
The attitude you chose to have in a crisis is also of major
importance to the success of the outcome No, it’s not easy But
find what is important to you and focus on that For me, it was
living to raise my son for a long, long time to come We may not
understand what God wants from us, but we can have trust and
just go with it as best we can
Have you heard, “make lemonade out of the lemons” in your life?
Sure you have! For most of us, unless we are challenged to do
this, it is only a saying It is real No matter what you go
through and the challenges you face, there are sweet spots
Don’t get me wrong; it doesn’t take the tragedy out of things
But when we look for even the smallest, tiniest glimmer of what
is positive out of the experience you can and will have a new
perspective When I asked my Aunt Mary, who had gone through
breast cancer two times, with two mastectomies years apart, “How
did this experience change you?” What she shared with me is what
I have since heard many other women say in similar ways, “You
quit sweating the small stuff I learned to appreciate my
children even more Every day is precious” Like Aunt Mary, I
smile now when my son does something that might have made me
angry before Now, I tend to think, it’s not that important and
things happen In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really
matter I am thankful to be here for him and he for me, because
he is the most precious thing in the world to me
Did you as a child ever envy the guys because they could take
their shirts off on a hot summer day? Well, I did Girls didn’t
get to do that After the mastectomy, in my rare case of
sick-sense-of-humor, I wondered, “If I had had a double
mastectomy would that mean I could take my shirt off in the
summer and no one would care?” Obviously, I came to the
conclusion that, “Yes, many would care,” but it was a rather
funny thought
More and more women can and do survive breast cancer Ladies and
men, if you find anything unusual for your own body and how it
would normally react, get it checked See your doctor You are
your best super sleuth when it comes to your own body and
health Don’t ignore those little things that just don’t seem
quite right Early diagnosis is best The women I know that have
lost their lives to breast cancer often ignored their early
warning signs
I was on Tamoxifen for two years and am now on Aromasin for an
expected three more years More people need to be aware that
breast cancer is not just about lumps and not just about women
Men are diagnosed with Paget’s Disease also
Help get the word out Emails are circulating in an attempt to
inform people It seems to be more prevalent than initially
thought I am a volunteer for the American Cancer Society I
also donate a percentage of my sales to the ACS If you would
like me to speak on Paget’s Disease and/or Breast Cancer, I
would be happy to Also if you know of someone going through
breast cancer and are wondering what you might be able to do to
help them, go to my website, wwwElnAlbertcom and you will find
in the free articles, “How To Help Her With Cancer” This
article will give you dozens of little ideas on how you can help
a loved one with cancer Believe me, all those little things
make a big difference

Tags | breast, forties, lumps, maternal, nipple, opinion, result, seventies, sisters, society, spite, urgency