My Breast Cancer Story

What does it feel like to be diagnosed with breast cancer at age 27? Here are some of the posts I’ve written about my experience.

I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 1996. I wrote this post as part of the blog carnival Spin Cycle, and it explains what happened after I felt that life-altering lump in my breast.

After my lumpectomy, I agonized over what my next step would be. The margins around my tumor were clean, which meant I could choose to keep my breast and have radiation and chemotherapy. Or, I could have a mastectomy and chemo. This post tells how I came to have a mastectomy with no breast reconstruction. While this was the right decision for me at the time, I’ve always kept the door open to have reconstruction surgery in the future.

After the mastectomy came the chemotherapy. As you can imagine, it was not a fun experience.

At the beginning of chemo, I was hopeful that I would not lose all my hair. The nurses said that not everybody loses their hair, but it would probably happen. And of course, it happened to me, too.

In this essay, I compare two operating room experiences. In the first vignette, I describe my lumpectomy; the second, the birth of my first daughter via cesarean.

I successfully breastfed both my daughters, and learned how to find the humor in living with a mastectomy. I wrote about the humorous side in my post:

I have also vlogged about my breast cancer experience, which you can watch in the video below.

What’s left to come? Hopefully a long life with my family and no recurrence. If you have any questions about my experience with breast cancer, please feel free to e-mail me at lemondroppie@gmail.com.

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