Before I had 24 hours to process my diagnosis, the phone started ringing. I couldn’t believe how many doctor’s offices started calling me the very next morning. I was in no place to talk to anyone. Honestly, I wanted to pick up the phone and tell them all to go to hell. Have some respect, and give me a second to figure out how to breathe, again, please. (Side note: My personality has always been one to kind of shut down and retreat when something terrible happens. I’m not one to call up my friends to get together for support, although that’s probably the healthier way to handle things.)
What naive little me didn’t realize, is after a breast cancer diagnosis, you’re put on the “Breast Cancer Conveyor Belt.” Everything needs to happen “quickly” so the cancer doesn’t “spread further.” “HURRY before it reaches the lymph nodes and goes everywhere!”
My head was spinning, the phone was ringing non-stop, and I couldn’t think straight. I felt like I was being hit from every direction while trying to make life-altering decisions.
My mindset: I have a daughter, who’s my everything. I have to be around for her.
Mistake #1
So I plopped my ass on the conveyor belt.
After a needle biopsy, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 (clinical) Ductal Carcinoma and advised that I just needed radiation and a lumpectomy, and I would be on my merry way.
I’ve watched so many people die of the effects of chemo and radiation, so I knew, no matter how badly I supposedly “needed” those treatments, they would not be part of MY treatment plan. I told the radiologist I would not be doing radiation, so apparently a lumpectomy was off the table, because, as she explained, with current protocol, when they do a lumpectomy, it’s only done in combo with radiation. Radiation causes cancer, right? Right.
She explained that my other option was a mastectomy. So I found an amazing surgeon, and I opted for a for a bilateral mastectomy. I decided that I didn’t want to worry about the cancer coming back in the other breast, so I chose to remove both breasts and nipples. I was very ill-informed, thinking it couldn’t come back after a mastectomy. Where did it have to go? –I was wrong, because it most certainly can. Women who’ve had mastectomies have had cancerous tumors pop up under the arms, in the mastectomy scars or other places in the body. Breast cancer’s favorite places to pop up are the bones (often ribs), liver, brain and lungs.
Are Conventional Treatments for You?
While I’m no cancer expert, I want to urge women who’ve been diagnosed to PLEASE stop and take some time before choosing your path of treatment/healing. Don’t be scared or rushed into surgery, chemo, or radiation before weighing your options. You may decide conventional treatments are the way you want to go, but please don’t be scared into that choice. DO YOUR RESEARCH. Your LIFE depends on it.
I’ll explain more in my upcoming posts about ways women are healing themselves from cancer without cutting off their breasts and without being cut on at all. There are ways to heal without chemicals that have killed thousands of people. They require a COMPLETE change of lifestyle, so they aren’t for the faint-hearted. I opted for a mastectomy because I didn’t yet know about their healing journeys, but the purpose of this blog is to let YOU know about them, so you are armed with that info, should you ever face a breast cancer diagnosis.
Click here to read about my diagnosis and the ONLY symptom I was having at the time. https://yogapantsandflipflops.com/how-did-i-get-here/
This blog is my personal story and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own. This content is for informational purposes only and shouldn’t be seen as any kind of medical advice. Please use any info on my blog at your own risk. I am not a doctor or medical professional. I reserve the right to change how I manage or run my blog and I may change focus or content at any time. Any information I provide is accurate and true to the best of my knowledge, but that there may be omissions, errors or mistakes.