New Site about Breast Cancer

Alma-P

New Site about Breast Cancer

Alma-P

Hello,

My name is Alma Peterson and im the owner of a new site about breast cancer. http://The-Breast-Cancer-Facts.com

I hop my site will be usefull for you.

This is my personal survival story:

How Being Diagnosed with Breast Cancer made me Want to Share my Story with the World

I still remember the day that I got the terrible news; I had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. But to give you the whole picture, I need to back up a bit. It had been about 10 years since I had gone into receive a mammogram (Yes, I know that this is bad!). I now know that women over 40 are supposed to go ever 5 years, but I was not familiar with pertinent breast cancer facts. I had also not been performing regular monthly breast exams. I was distracted with life and other health concerns and had not made my personal breast health a top priority. When I went to visit my physician and she began to share some very relevant breast cancer facts with me as I was having my annual exam. I was shocked how little I knew about breast cancer facts and began to become concerned.

I left the physician's office with a bag full of pamphlets on women's health, all full of breast cancer facts for me to read. I waited for my mammogram results and when I got the call to go into the office, my stomach sank. When the doctor told me that I had breast cancer, I immediately felt the overwhelming emotions of fear, anger and denial all at the same time. My doctor covered all of the relevant breast cancer facts with my and explained the next steps. As we listened to the treatment options and the survival rates, my husband was clinching my hand.

As we walked out of the office to go home, I just sat in silence. What was going to be next? My husband called our daughters to give them the news. Our youngest daughter was in medical school, so she handled the news with the utmost professionalism, giving us her thoughts on the next steps as well as all of the relevant breast cancer facts. The second call was to our oldest daughter, an executive at a sales company in Maryland. We were impressed with how well both girls handled the news. Both of my daughters wanted an explaination of breast cancer facts and how they would impact my diagnosis and treatment plan.

The next step was surgery to remove the tumor. It had been growing approximately 3-5 years so it was quite large. The surgery was successful and now it was time to do a scan to see if we had gotten all of the cancer. Current breast cancer facts point to the possibility that the disease can spread quickly into the nearby lymph nodes. We waited, and then got some terrible news. They found some cancer cells on some on my lymph nodes. Current breast cancer facts point to the need for more aggressive treatment when they find the possibility that the cancer has spread.

Now would come chemotherapy and radiation. My physcial explained all of the relevant breast cancer facts for both treatments before we scheduled them to begin.

No one could have prepared me for how horrible the chemo would be. Most breast cancer facts don't properly prepare you for the actual treatment symptoms and side effects. I was constantly sick, I lost all of my hair, I was tired and I ached all over. Embarrassed about my hair loss, I always made sure that I wore my wig or a wrap when I was around my husband. I did take the advice of my breast cancer support group and I bought 2 great wigs with the shopping help of my oldest daughter. The radiation was not so great either- I had some scarring and burning around my breast region. Skin burning is a common breast cancer fact associated with the treatment. While this is normal and the medical professionals explain this to you, no one can truly prepare you for how it feels when you lose what so many of us equate with feminine beauty.

I completed the 4 months of intense radiation and chemotherapy while still managing to work full time, and now it was time to wait. Did it work?

After several months, I went in for another scan. It was clean. Current breast cancer facts suggest that 95% of women who go into remission have a chance of a 5 year survival. Now, I was officially in remission. Although I felt somewhat relieved, I still had the looming feeling that it would come back. At 53, I was not ready to die. I still didn't have any grandchildren, I had not been able to enjoy my retirement and I was worried about my husband of 34 years and how he would get on without me. It has been 5 years and I am still in remission. I am retiring this year and am excited about my future.

My experience encouraged me to share my story with other men, woman and families who are dealing with breast cancer. I made it- and so can you. I started a website called www.the-breast-cancer-facts.com to share breast cancer facts and inspiration about breast cancer with the world.