I Search Background--Take Two!

I Search Background:



When I was young I can recall hearing about older people passing away from cancer and I thought that it was strictly a disease that was meant for elderly people. As a child, I never wondered if it was lung, bone, breast, brain, pancreatic, liver, etc--it was just cancer. I graduated from high school and went on to college for two years and became a Medical Assistant and worked for a Family Practitioner. I saw numerous patients that had cancer and understood the origin of the cancer and where certain cancer cells typically like to metastasize to. I saw many women in our office that were battling breast cancer. Some of the women that I had known had lost their battle with the disease but many others were still going through treatment regimes or were in remission. All of the women that I could recall with the disease were age fifty and over. I knew something was wrong as I was having breast pain. I went to the doctor and was told that it was stress and to return in one month for a follow up. The pain persisted; so I took action and called asking for a mammogram. I was told that mammograms typically don’t pick up on cancers in younger women; so an ultrasound was ordered. The ultrasound was normal. I persisted with the mammogram . I knew something was definitely alarming when the technician came back into the room asking to get more views and stated that “it’s small”. I left the hospital hysterical and an appointment was made with a surgeon. You can imagine how shocked and distressed I was to hear that I, myself, at thirty two years of age--was being told by my surgeon that I did, indeed, have breast cancer. I had a paternal aunt that was currently battling breast cancer; but other than that, there were no other family members that had a history of the disease. Several questions went through my mind: am I going to live?, what were my risk factors for getting the disease?, are there any women under forty in my area that have breast cancer?, what are my treatment options?, what is my risk for recurrence?, what are the chances of my young daughter inheriting the disease when she gets older?. There are many unknowns with any type of cancer--the disease is not “cookbook”. However, I am going to research the above questions and give to you, the reader, or the person whose mother was just diagnosed, the young woman who just found a breast lump and is in turmoil wondering what her next step should be--the most up-to-date information that medical research has to offer.