It all began on one early Friday morning at 6:45 am. I was scheduled for a routine mammogram because I was feeling a throbbing pain on my left breast when I would lay down on my side and when showering. I had a gut feeling something was wrong. The nurse had to call my doctor and request a prescription for an ultrasound . It was 130 in the afternoon and they called me to a consult room with manequin heads with wigs. I froze. I waited patiently for the doctor to come in to give me the bad news. I had ductal carcinoma on my right breast . My world fell apart . I became numb until the day came January 24 where I chose to be proactive and had a bilateral mastectomy. They tried to spare the nipple and the aureola but was called three days later to let me know it was not going to work because the pathology report showed it was on my nipple as well. When in to take care of that and then a few days later was called again because the new pathology report showed I had it also on my chest wall. Well to make a long story short I visited the cancer treatment centers of America thanks to my sister who was determined to put all our minds at ease. It's now October and now I have implants and nipples. I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel ,

Ary Barreto
Hollywood, FL