I am a Breast Cancer Survivor

In 1996, I found a lump in my left breast. It scared me to death. I was 36 years old. I had never had a mammogram.

In school, our health class taught us to do the “wagon wheel” breast – self – exam. They told us to stand in front of the mirror and envision each breast as a wagon wheel and use our hand as the spokes to feel for abnormalities. Then we were to lie on the bed and repeat the process while lying down.

The lesson taught us to be aware of ourselves…to know our bodies. This is a very important lesson and should be taught to every girl and boy. Yes, boys too.

You and you alone know your own body. A doctor cannot help you if you don’t keep track of anything that changes. This goes for women and men (the prostate.) If you aren’t in “touch” with yourself you won’t know if something you find is supposed to be there or not.

Every woman should get a mammogram by the age of 45. (I totally believe this should be 35, since I was diagnosed with my cancer at 37. ) Your first mammogram is called the “baseline.” This is the test that your doctor will refer to when you go get your other mammograms throughout the years. It gives your doctor an idea of what your breast should look like. Then, if anything changes they will be able to determine if you have problems or not.

I never had a “baseline mammogram,” so when I went to get my lump checked out the doctor couldn’t find anything on the picture. So I had to have a sonogram; which showed us where the lump was but not anything else. So the next step was a lumpectomy. That was the only way they could find out if my lump was a threat or not. It was.

In January 1997, I had a mastectomy. Fortunately, I found the lump early and only had the Left breast removed. They also took 12 -13 lymph nodes, which were found to be clear - the cancer had not spread.

I started 6 weeks of chemo. I lost my hair. I started "chemo induced menopause." I thought I would never make it through.

If not for my support group, my husband and my family, I would not be here today.

So I'm living proof that breast cancer is survivable. It will sure knock you down - for while - but you can beat it. Just be smart and know your body.