After many years of scares, diagnosis was still a surprise
I left the X-ray department in April 2005, aged 65, without any premonition of impending health problems.
After all, I had been having breast cancer scares since my 30s. Lumps, painful breasts from cystitis, needle aspiration, biopsies and mammograms had been ongoing for years.
I remember sitting in the bathtub in those days, crying and praying for God to give me time to raise my children. Now, through with child-rearing days, I looked forward to enjoying my interior design business, travel and a recent marriage to a friend from my 40th high school reunion.
The phone call from the doctor was troubling, but not unnerving.
There was a mass on the mammogram that couldn’t be identified. Another picture had to be taken.
The same mass showed up the second time. It was decided to take another X-ray in six months to see if it had changed. After all, it was probably just a calcium deposit. I was OK with this. I am good at denial. Six months later, the mass was still there and had changed.
This was terribly inconvenient. I had my life to get on with. More tests and needles.
The call came from the sweetest nurse telling me that it was ductal carcinoma and also ductal carcinoma in situ.
She tried to explain it to me, but I felt so numb that I could hardly hear what she was saying.
What did this mean? Surgery, chemo, radiation? I gathered my wits about me and began to research my options. I even went to Little Rock for a second opinion. The doctor there was so gracious and told me that my surgeon here in Texarkana was one of his former students and that he was more than competent to take care of me. Good advice. I really didn’t want to be one of those patients making road trips for treatments and surgeries. And the surgeon in Texarkana did the most wonderful job.
The news spread like wildfire. The grapevine in Texarkana is speedy.
Soon, I was in touch with great numbers of breast cancer survivors, getting the scoop on lumpectomies and mastectomies. I received pamphlets and books about breast cancer. My decision to choose a mastectomy came about after hearing that some doctors and surgeons would advise their close female family members to choose mastectomy just to be sure. I was past the age where beauty was more important than health, and I had never been a very bosomy woman anyway.
Flat was just fine with me. I didn’t even want reconstruction after hearing what a woman goes through for that procedure. And I was married to my high school friend who was supportive of whatever my decisions were.
The surgery went smoothly, the report was that there was cancer in other parts of the breast tissue that had not been detected. God had helped me to make the right decision and my recovery began with love and attention from what seemed like all corners of the earth.
Today, I am a 12-year survivor. The marriage to my high school friend was stressed and eventually ended, but I am more aware of how precious each day is, how precious people are and how great the majesty of our Lord and Savior is.
Breast cancer has brought me the countless blessings that a little pain and suffering brings to those who choose to look for sunshine behind the clouds.