My Mastectomy: My Experience With Cancer

It’s astonishing how one diagnosis can completely alter the life of a family. One day you’re looking to move into the fancy houses along the coast, and the next you’re forced to consider if you would be able to afford the same home with one income. When I was three years old my mom was diagnosed with uterine cancer. I was too young to know what was happening, but at the age of seven, when my mom was diagnosed for the second time, I began to notice a change in my family’s daily life. I was told not to sit on my mom’s lap and that she could not play with me as much as usual due to her Chemotherapy, but it was not until her third time contracting cancer that I noticed the pain she was in. I was fourteen when I finally learned about the very thing I had been trying to figure out for nearly my entire life. This burden has solely shaped the way I act and how I handle life’s many challenges, but how it accomplished this was not always a joyous experience.

My grandma then went in and had a radical mastectomy. While she was in surgery the doctor checked her lymph nodes and found that it had already spread into the nodes under her arm. They did remove some of her lymph nodes in hopes that they could keep it from spreading throughout her system. The surgery seemed like it took a long time but really only took a few hours. We were all so worried about if she would make it through surgery and how she would feel after. Grandma had to stay in the hospital for three days recovering from surgery. She was in severe pain so they kept her on medication to help her cope with the pain. The medication she was on made her drowsy and sometimes really funny. She was all bandaged up and had a drain tube for any

The Diagnosis for many especially those who are the diagnosed can be the scariest thing. Seeing this first hand with my grandmother who did not want to tell anyone of what had happened it was tough. I was a little less then fifteen when I went to live with my grandmother for a short time. She quickly showed me things like cooking and gardening and the value of hard work so when I overheard her talking to my grandfather about having to get chemo the next day I was beside myself. She finally told me the next day about her diagnosis. Though we may care for those diagnosed seldom do we ever truly know what they are going through? I mean how often do you have things you

When I found out that my mother had cancer, I was in shock and did not know how to take everything in. She decided that her being diagnosed with cancer will be the best thing that ever happened to her, not the worst. At 37 years old my mother was diagnosed with stage I breast cancer. She discovered the cancer at a very early stage, which was very lucky and satisfying to hear. The way my mother discovered she had, it was an insane experience for the both of us. She started having pain in November of 2016 in her left armpit; she did not think of it as such a vast deal so she just ignored it. Nevertheless the pain got worse over time and eventually she went to see a doctor.

A review of the records reveals the member to be an adult female with a birth date of 04/20/1977. The member has a diagnosis of pain following reconstruction for prophylactic bilateral mastectomies. The member’s treating provider, David Janssen, MD recommended the member undergo bilateral breast implant exchange/internal Lewis procedure.

Jenny is a 45 year old female that is diagnosed with stage IIB, T2pN1aM0 invasive ductal carcinoma, high grade, triple negative, right upper outer quadrant, Ki-67 80% (D05.11), along with status post neoadjuvant chemotherapy with pathologic residual invasive disease, status post right breast mastectomy and lymph noted dissection with prophylactic let breast mastectomy, BRCA1 and BRCA2 negative. Jenny was previously treated with 4 cycles of neoadjuvant dose-dense Adriamycin and cytozan with neulasta, 12 cycles of neoadjuvant weekly taxol, and underwent left breast skin-sparing mastectomy and right breast skin-sparing mastectomy and lymph node biopsy, but still experienced disease progression. Jenny’s disease is aggressive and progressive.

When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, the first thing that I thought was, I don’t have time for this. The doctor called me with the results of my previous test and attempting to stay calm I agreed to a time for an appointment and hung up the phone. I walk into the living room and sit on the couch in shock. Everything feels so surreal, this can't be happening to me. Sure I hadn’t been feeling the best but seriously? What am I going to do? What about Aleshia? My mind goes into a spiral of never ending thoughts. Slowly they calm and I walk into my five year old daughters room. There she sleeps; so peaceful and still. I lay beside her running my thin fingers through her curly hair. A tear silently runs down my cheek as I drift into sleep. The

It didn’t take long though, for cancer to become a trip to the emergency room after my mom had severe back pain. Cancer was a pain, one that didn’t ever go away. Cancer was a heartless doctor explaining my mom’s expiration date. Two weeks, the doc said my mom would be lucky if she lived that long. Cancer had not only been in her breast, but in her bones, lung, liver, and skin as well. Cancer was a hospital room full of family. It was my mom with a huge smile plastered on her face despite hearing the horrid news. Cancer was her telling our entire family that it was the best day of her life, not because she was told she was going to die, but because she had her entire family there supporting her.

All of these things scare most people; I was terrified. My mother? She was scared, but she then knew that it would be okay and went through every process stronger than ever. She had bad days, we all did, but she knew that tomorrow was a new day and it could get better. While she had her bad and good days she remained the most beautiful mother on the planet, even after she went bald. Chemo took away her energy, taste, and her hair. She still had the strength to be a full time mother, and only a part time cancer

Cancer is something that not only affects the person diagnosed with it, but also the people who know them. When my grandmother got colon cancer in 2008, the family was distraught with the news and didn’t know how to react. After she had died from cancer in 2009, I wasn’t aware of exactly what kind of cancer she had and how the severity was. I didn’t even know what each of the stages meant. After I found out what kind of cancer she had, I still wasn’t sure how it was caused, what kind of effects it had, what kind of treatments she had, and if there was any way it could’ve been prevented.

Breast cancer is a disease that comes unexpectedly; many people tend to overlook the symptoms. There are different types of breast cancers that require treatments and surgery. The course of treatment varies from patient to patient because there are many factors that can contribute to a patient’s treatment plan. Once the plan is in place, there are many things that will need to be done in order to ensure that the cancer will not return. Trying to beat cancer can be a long, extraneous, and in some cases a fatal process. Its important to catch cancer at its earliest stage. Knowing the symptoms of certain cancers may just save a life.

I have always lived a peaceful life with no illnesses or deaths in the family. I was sheltered from all the bad diagnostics and serious illnesses in the world. I never imagined that something as deadly as cancer would hit so close to home, but it did. The moment my mom was given the news, my life flashed before my eyes. Would I ever be able to braid her hair again without clumps of hair being tangled and caught between my fingers? How would my parents be able to afford all the treatments and chemo my mom needed? These questions ran through my mind, but not a single tear ran down my cheek. The reason was because I knew that now more than ever, my mom needed me by her side.

removal of both the nipples and areola, but the surgery can be performed using skin and nipple sparing techniques (6, 7).

     Breast physical exam – help to find lumps that women may miss with their own

I remember exactly what I was doing when I got the call from the doctor to tell me it was cancer. I was rocking my three-week old baby; we named him Trey and I was thrilled to have him. It was always a struggle for me to get pregnant, and years of infertility left me with feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, feelings that were becoming all too familiar again. I wanted nothing more than to sit and hold him, to hold all my four children, and be their Mom. I love being a Mom, so to say I was devastated by this news was an understatement. The only thing I could hold on to at this moment was the fact that I had been through hard things before so I knew I could do it. Those who know me best tell me I am stubborn, independent, and determined. I could do this; I knew I could; I just really didn’t want to have to endure the pain, isolation, recovery, and fear that are inevitably associated with cancer treatment. Who would? Nevertheless, it had to be done, and I had to do it.