diagnosed at 38 with BC

hwill

My maternal grandmother had BC.  then my mother had BC.  they were post menopausal.  then i felt a lump in my breast at 38.  all of the doctors told me it was a swollen lymph node until they finally did a biopsy and found out that i had BC.  my mother had breast cancer again which her doctor felt and was not picked up on the mammogram.

because of the risk of return in the other breast, i chose to have a double mastectomy.  thank god i had already had my children.  remember, even if you are married, which i am, this final decision is yours.  it is your body.  i did 6 months of chemo with procrit shots every week.  ouch!

i spoke to my oncologist and he recommended that i take the braca tests because of my family history.  i came back positive for the braca1 gene.  my mother came back positive.  my grandmother and sister came back negative.  i cannot impress enough the importance of this test.  a positive result means a 50% chance of ovarian cancer.  my mother and i had our ovaries removed.  it was done by laparoscopy and was a very minor procedure.  you will, however, go into instant menopause.  i highly recommend this test for peace of mind.  also, if you are of eastern european jewish heritage, you are more likely to have a mutated gene.

the "doctor" who did my reconstruction was a butcher.  he was supposed to be the best in the city.  my breasts looked nothing like breasts.  i waited a while and appealed with my insurance to re-do the reconstruction.  they not only approved it, but filed a greivance against the doctor.  i found a competent doctor and i have 1 more operation to go to finish the new reconstruction and guess what?

my breasts look like breasts.  this is another avenue that you should pursue if your reconstruction is botched.  appeal your insurance.

hwill

Isabella4

Hi hwill.

You might like to post in 'Just diagnosed' you'll get a much better response, and also will get responses from girls of the same age, and a similar diagnosis as yours with whom you can swap notes.

You certainly have had a bad experience, but sound as if you are getting on top of it slowly.

You will find the answers to any questions you might have, and lots of different views on many things that might be bothering you.

Sorry you have had to join us, but we are all in this boat together, so we all pull together and help out one another when and where we can.

Nice to meet you. Isabella.

hwill

thank you.