April 1985: Breast cancer at 32 was so common then. After a lumpectomy, pathology found negative receptor status, a high mitotic rate and 10 positive notes. I soon learned what all those scary new words meant. I also learned what wonderful support family, friends and physicians can be.
My first step was a good one, asking my surgeon, "OK, what do I have to do." Dr. Dan Osman is a great proponent of mental imagery and mind-body connections and it's something I've passed along. He also shared his own experience with giving prognoses. He quit when one "terminal" patient came back years later to visit. None of us has an expiration date on our head.
October 2002: Local recurrence. Same breast, different location. Dr. Bob DerHagopian and Dr. Dierdre Marshall performed surgery and reconstruction respectively. It was slow and go because of previous radiation, but reconstruction was finally complete in 2005. High mitotic rate again, but node unknown and no evidence of spread. I had chemotherapy again. I'll never forget my oncologist's face when I told him I had 10 nodes in 1985. I just said, "Yes, I know." And I kept living and working and laughing and playing.
April 2010: 25 years since my first surgery. All clear as far as annual blood work. I've lived many years when the odds weren't great. I'm a survivor. So is any woman who never loses hope and spirit and joy, no matter how long she lives. Our struggles and triumphs and experiences will live on as memories to be cherished by family, friends and physicians. We are all survivors.
Nashville, TN
