I was giving myself a self examination and I felt a lump in my right breast. After a mammogram, an ultrasound and a needle biopsy I was diagnosed with Invasive Carcinoma. BREAST CANCER!!! How did this happen to me? What didi do to cause this? What did I do to deserve this? Am I going to die? What am I going to do? At first I was in complete shock, then I decided it was time for action!! I registered with the top 2 cancer hospitals in Boston. I decided to have a double mastectomy. Just get this cancer out of my body so I can concentrate on fighting. I was lucky that my job was understanding and told me to do whatever I needed to do and just focus on getting healthy. I thought this was going to be a quick and easy procedure. I didn't need Chemotherapy, it hadn't spread to my lymph nodes and because I was having the double mastectomy I didn't need radiation. My BRCA 1/11 gene testing came back Ok so I didn't have to have a hysterectomy. All good news. I had my double mastectomy on November 15th and it went well. Since then I had to have 2 additional surgeries due to complications with healing. Drs. blamed all healing issues on the fact I was a smoker. How do you not smoke when you have been given news like this? But I decided I wanted to be healthy and have a good outcome with my reconstructive surgeries so I quit smoking. Now I am waiting to have my tissue expander put back in on the right side. After that will be weekly fills then implants after that. I am fortunate to have great family and friends around me. I try to stay positive and maintain a happy state of mind. It was caught early and other than taking my Tamoxifen (for the next 5 years) my treatment has been pretty easy. I am really excited about going through the reconstructive phase. Out with the old in with the new.

Cindy Sawin
Natick, MA