October 2023 Update - (Almost) One Year In…
A year ago in late October I had the annual mammogram that changed my life. With no family history and no reason to suspect anything, I went to the appointment thinking it was just a normal screening that I do once a year before my annual OB-GYN exam. The next day a call saying more imaging was needed. Next available was more than a week out. I pressed for something sooner and drove 45 minutes to a location that could accommodate the next day. That imaging showed something of concern, that was going to mean a biopsy. The radiologist told me this type of issue is almost always a false positive. In fact, for 80% of women, it’s nothing. The next available biopsy was 32 days out. The mental angst I was enduring was high, so I pressed for an earlier appointment. Short staffed, people who had put off appointments over the past two years meant there was no earlier option. I asked for the name of the specific type of biopsy I needed and then went to Google to find something sooner on my own. I got in 6 days later. You know how this ended, DCIS Stage 0 breast cancer. From routine mammogram to diagnosis in 1 week.
One month later I had my bilateral (double) mastectomy and reconstruction. Coming out of that surgery the pathology showed that 40% of my left breast was covered in Stage 0 cancer AND they discovered a 1.3mm tumor of Stage 1 cancer. None of the imaging, including an MRI after diagnosis, caught how much was going on. We caught it so early, imaging couldn’t see all of that. Yes, I am fortunate that it was caught early. But it wasn’t all luck.
Having the annual mammogram and it being a 3D was the reason it was picked up at all. Those were choices I made. Advocating to get into the doctor for better imaging and a biopsy when appointments weren’t readily available, that was me advocating for myself. Choosing to do a mastectomy versus a lumpectomy and “making it a double” was me choosing to minimize as much risk as possible. These actions weren’t luck, it was me being as proactive as I could be and having a sense of urgency.
October is breast cancer awareness month. Lots of pink everywhere, lots of stories. My message isn’t unique to October and it’s not unique to breast cancer or women. We are all human and that means “I don’t have time”, “I’m fine, I feel fine”, “I don’t want to spend the money”, “I don’t want to be pushy”, “I need to take care of others in my life, I’ll get to me later”. The list goes on and on.
You can’t control what life throws at you, but you can control taking care of yourself (getting your screenings) and how you handle it (urgency matters when it comes to something heinous like cancer growing inside you).
It has been quite a year - 4 surgeries since diagnosis, including a bonus surgery I earned myself by not being a good patient and thinking I could physically do more than I was supposed to 10 days after the April reconstruction surgery. When you do that, you can blow a blood vessel, displace your brand new implant and end up in emergency surgery instead of celebrating your daughter’s 18th birthday. Not ideal. I told her maybe subconsciously I wanted to re-live the experience…I was in the same hospital 18 years later to the day!
I am stronger than ever physically and mentally. My body looks like my body thanks to a phenomenal plastic surgeon. Most importantly, I am cancer free. I do get tested every 6 months - blood labs to watch my liver and my bones, since that’s where breast cancer likes to come back. The week in between the labs and the oncology appointment was stressful and that will be my new normal for the rest of my life. But I am great.
I have spoken to more women diagnosed after me than you would ever believe in such a short time. But they say 1:8 women will be affected, so there are many. If you know someone who gets diagnosed, please feel free to connect them with me. It can help to talk to someone who has been through it and can help with expectations and navigating. I am grateful to Tami Segal and Vicki DeVore who did that for me. Now just paying it forward.
Please don’t feel bad for me. Please don’t just read this and think “that’s great”. Do something.
If you’re of age, please get that annual mammogram and “make it a 3D”. If you’re under 40 or a man, please reach out to the women in your life and ask them to get their annual mammogram and “make it a 3D”. And for anyone who reads this — get your health screenings!
- Colonoscopy - I did that in August
- Dermatology - I did that in March and September due to some a-typical cells found during the earlier one
- Whatever your health history says you need…
If anything should come up, “do not pass go”, do not settle for an appointment if loss of time could make your outcome/path worse. As a wise colleague has often said “bad news never gets better with time”. I’m doing well because I didn’t hesitate, I moved with urgency, decisiveness and “chutzpah” (guts in Yiddish). It wasn’t luck, it was about taking all steps possible to live. I don’t know how my movie ends, but I assure you, if I go down — or rather, WHEN I go down, I will know I did everything possible. My intent is that will be a long time from now and I will have many more incredible adventures before I get there.