I have been wanting to tell my story, so I’ll tell you the short version so I don’t bore you with details. I want to share this so that I can empower both women and men alike. I was going to wait until October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month), but decided not to wait. If you have known me for a while, you may know that my mother is a 20+-years survivor of BC. Last fall, my twin sister was diagnosed. She fought back with chemo/radiation and is still taking measures to keep fighting to keep it from ever invading her again. I knew then and there I needed to explore my own risk, so I went through genetic counseling and did some research about preventive treatment options since I was informed my risk to get BC was 40% (both mom and sister were diagnosed so young, which increased my odds even though I try to lead a healthy life and I even tested negative for the BRCA gene mutations). I elected to get a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy and am now 2 weeks post-op. Because I did this as a healthy woman, my surgeons (who were trained by God himself) were able to save everything external. The rest of my reconstruction and physical therapy are going amazingly well (I still look like me!). My nurse practitioner even called with news today to gleefully confirm cancer-free diagnosis in the pathology report, even though some of the cells were behaving “atypically”. When I heard an emphatic, “Peggy, you made the right decision” from her, it strengthened my resolve even more. I like to think of myself as a “pre-survivor”. I will continue to support this awareness to honor all survivors (especially my heroes Mom and Christine), those who courageously fight and those who fought hard but lost their battle against this dreaded disease. Women (and men!): don’t take your health for granted; cancer discriminates against NO ONE. Tell your wives, sisters, mothers, girlfriends, friends and loved ones to pay attention to their bodies and their family histories. Get those mammograms and explore ALL your options to find one that is best for YOU. Some people thought I was nuts, but most people tell me how brave I am. At first I thought this was the vain, “chickensh*t” way to deal with this, but you know what I have learned? Yes it was scary and painful (I am getting stronger!!), I was indeed brave, (You go, Peggy, you badass, you!!) and I have absolutely no regrets. I truly believe the really brave ones are those I mentioned above. My amazing family and friends kept me strong with their words of support, their prayers, the homecooked meals and cards and well wishes. I am thrilled with my results so far and can’t wait until my journey is finally over to see the end result. Most importantly, my risk is now less than 1%. So, screw you, Breast Cancer! Thanks for listening to my story.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 22:59:21 +0000
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