Marie T., 24-Year-Old, Insists on Further Testing

Ladies, listen to your bodies and trust your instincts!

I, like Marie, know what it's like to be made to feel like a hypochondriac by a physician, and my experience with this was AFTER I had already had cancer! Uggghh! It was time to find a new doctor, asap! I can't tell you how many women I've heard from with similar stories.

I was 24 when I found my first lump, and the mother of 2 young kids. My daughter was 5 and my son was 4. I have a strong family history of breast cancer. While I was giving birth to my daughter in one hospital my mother was having a bi-lateral mastectomy in another.
I pleaded with my doctor to start mammograms immediately after having my son. He laughed at me and said "Ask me again when your 40". I felt humiliated, and a little like a hypochondriac.
When I found that first lump I kept it to myself. It had grown to the size of a golf ball before I told my husband, it only took a matter of a few weeks to get that size. By that time I realized it wasn't going away and I was scared to death. I made an appointment with my NEW doctor. She had seen the month before for my yearly exam. So when she seen(yes I said SEEN) the lump she sent me immediately for a breast ultrasound. The results prompted an immediate mammogram.
I was sent to a surgeon the following day, and in surgery the next. It all happened so fast my head was spinning. I had no answers for my kids or my husband, who was supportive through it all.
The results were good. It was a fibroid cyst, but that's not the end of my story. Two weeks later I was having another lump removed. One week later I had A cyst rupture when I bent over to pick something up. I was rushed in for emergency surgery. One again I didn't know what the outcome would be. Still no cancer, but by now I had had enough. I begged my surgeon to remove both breast, I couldn't handle the pain or being away from my kids. Or waking up each morning wondering if today they would find the cancer.
I was 25 and having a bi-lateral mastectomy. They did find the cancer! When they removed both breast and sent it to the lab they found cancer cells. I felt great I had got the jump on it. The hard work was yet to come. I came home with tubes coming out of everywhere. My kids were scared of me. But I was alive!
I felt like I could take on the world. Then I got a severe case of pneumonia. I was hospitalized, and put on morphine to kill the pain so I could breath. My son came to see me once, I told my husband I was feeling better and he could bring him in. I didn't know I would take a turn for the worse. When he came in the door I was throwing up and green. The nurse was trying to braid my hair to cover the bald spots she didn't get very far before I got sick. I heard my son say to his father as they left "Is my mommy going to die?". It broke my heart.
Now seven years later I stand strong. That nightmare has changed us all. My son pulled away from me, it took a long time for him to realize I was here to stay. My daughter turned into a mother hen. She helped me the whole way. And now shes about to turn 13 and I show her my scars, and tell her how important it is to know your body. Listen to your instincts, if one doctor doesn't listen find another and another. Your life is worth what you put into it

Thank you for letting me tell my story. I've never shared it before, the thought of directing just one person in the right direction makes it all worth it.

Marie T.

Lena, 9-Year Survivor Diagnosed at Age 29

Lena,

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm sure it will inspire other young survivors to continue living life to the fullest.

Kim

I guess you could say it all began in the early winter month of November 2000 when I found a lump in my right breast. Thinking it would be just a routine benign tumor(had already had one removed 10 years prior), I scheduled an appointment with my regular doctor. After an ultrasound and a biopsy confirmed the opposite of what was expected, I entered a new phase in my life-the world of Stage II Breast Cancer. I was only 29 at the time, with no immediate family history of this disease. My tumor was a fast growing one-it was as if it had developed overnight. But I have always done self-examinations since an awareness was always a part of my life. I immediately had a lumpectomy and lymph nodes removed. My goal was to get rid of it ASAP. Thus began my journey into the treatment of Chemotherapy that I had only read of in books and seen in the movies. I was sick most of the time, my long, shoulder-length hair disappeared, and the only thing that lifted my spirits were my true friends who didn't stay away for fear of contagion or lack of words to say. But most of all, my 4yr old daughter kept me adamant and strong in my fight to beat this thing. I wrapped up my treatments mid-summer that year and decided to pursue a life that would not ever be taken for granted. My joys and dreams and energy was put into being the best mom I could be for my daughter as a single parent. I also had a network of 6 friends-all survivors too. We shared the same faith, same strength, same compassion for each other. And we always shared our feelings with many tears and quiet moments-because sometimes there were no words to describe what we were going through. But then, in 2002, my small circle of friends began to lose their battle due to recurrences and metastases........my own recurrence befell me in the month of July of 2002. One of my friends was even hospitalized with me on the same floor. Because I no longer wanted the worry of always looking over my shoulders at this deadly disease, I opted for a mastectomy.......sadly, my friend no longer had that option-hers had already spread to her spine, bones, and eventually her brain. She succumbed in November of that year. But her positive spirit and the boldness she displayed(even taking a trip to Switzerland that year!) gave me the courage to keep fighting. Several more of my friends lost their battle that year and in 2003, but I am happy to say that my memories of the good times we shared will always stay in my heart. I completed more Chemo in 2003 with about 5 or 6 surgical procedures(including three failed medi-port implants). My daughter graduated Kindergarten and in '04 I opted for reconstructive surgery-I didn't want to have to replace the prosthesis my daughter had accidentally damaged while playing with it one day.....I decided after all was said and done, 2004 would be a year of change for me. I moved to Florida and began a new year with my cancer in remission. I am happy to say that 2004 was indeed a year of change-for the better! I married a wonderful, caring man, and we have now settled comfortably near where I have always dreamed of living-right near the ocean. I still have my appointments, I still have my days of the long term aftereffects of chemo, like brain fog, and chronic bouts of pain, but I am happy. And its good to know that any survivor of breast cancer is a fighter, united with others who, as a sisterhood share a common bond.

Lena


"LIFE IS NOT ABOUT WAITING FOR THE STORM TO PASS, IT'S LEARNING HOW TO DANCE IN THE RAIN"

Casey, 32-y.o. Stage IV, "Cancer Free"

Casey had the full array of treatments for her stage IV breast cancer, although the lung biopsy proved inconclusive. Here's hoping that the questionable lung area was just a shadow, or the like!

This is mine –

I’m a one year (and counting!) stage IV breast cancer survivor… that began w/ a routine doctor’s appointment. I gave birth to my second son in September 2007 and four months later, almost to the day, was diagnosed. I was 32 years old and not completely surprised, given the fact my grandmother passed away from “breast cancer” at age 52 (as a 2 time survivor.) At the time of my biopsy of lumps in both breasts and left side lymph node, I knew it wasn’t going to be good news. But I wasn’t at all prepared for the news that the cancer had most likely spread to my lung. The lung biopsy was inconclusive due to the location of the questionable areas. We proceeded as if I had metastatic breast cancer to the lymph nodes and lung. I did the whole kit and caboodle of treatments: first, chemo, then a bilateral mastectomy w/ expanders, radiation, reconstruction surgery, and lastly, a full hysterectomy as I am positive for the BRCA II gene.

During the second opinion clinic where I found out about the suspicious spots on my lung, I let myself wallow in self pity for about 10 minutes… my biggest feat, so I thought, would be losing my hair and as everyone tells you, it does grow back! God cleared this path for me for a reason and I couldn’t change my circumstances – so, I moved on and ahead! And my biggest feat wasn’t losing my hair, but rather dealing w/ a new status of having a “pre-existing” breast cancer diagnosis and finding decent affordable healthcare coverage as a wife of someone self-employed. And that’s not so bad considering what I’ve been through over the last year and a half! I’m a very open and positive person who puts all her concentration on her two sons (and husband) and living life in every sense of the word! J I am truly blessed in so many ways!

Today, I am cancer free. I owe it to a fantastic medical team, supportive friends and family, prayer and positive thinking, and the drug Herceptin!

Best wishes to those who share a similar story,

Casey Martinez