[MR] OT/OOP: October is Breast Cancer Awareness month

[crazy cat woman]

Among other things. I am posting this with the permission of our esteemed listowner. For those of you who don't know me, I am Lady Thyra Olafsdottir, in the northern reaches of our fair kingdom in Highland Foorde. I know that the usual email saying 'be aware' doesn't have much impact if this disease has not touched your life, & thought that sharing an actual story might make it a bit more real. I truly would not wish this on anyone.

Some of you may know, some may not, that I was diagnosed this March with stage 2B breast cancer. In layman's terms, that means really flippin' huge & in the lymph nodes. So a lumpectomy, followed by a surprise simple mastectomy 10 days later and then months of chemo have taken over my life this year, to be followed by weeks of radiation. I have almost no hair right now, including my brows & eyelashes, I've got peripheral neuropathy in my hands & feet, & I may lose my fingernails. And those are just the merely annoying side effects of chemo.

The baseline mammogram I had in February 07 did not show the lump. I also never felt anything, and the surgeon said he even had difficulty feeling it while he had the ultrasound wand over it showing where it was. I like to think I keep educated on things, but nowhere did I hear or read until after the diagnosis that in younger women, the breast tissue is much denser & mammos may not be as reliable as for women over 40. I turn 38 in 2 weeks. My point is merely that while these are all useful and life-saving tools, they are not 100% accurate and cannot be wholly relied upon.

Please go get squished, do self exams, and make sure your SO tells you if he/she notices anything different. If you're male, take seriously any lumps you might notice. If your doctor blows off your concerns, get a second opinion, or third, until they take you seriously. I have heard people say before, what if it's cancer? My response is, right, what if it IS cancer, do you want to let it metastasize and take years off your life, or do you want to catch it early & increase your chances for survival and non-recurrence?

I am honestly not writing any of this in a ploy for sympathy; if I wanted that I would have said something a lot sooner to more people. My hope is that it will help raise a bit of awareness, and if it keeps just one person from going through this process, this email will have done its job.

That's my little unofficial PSA for the week. Be well.


dawn / thyra
http://www.BigCatRescue.org/Icare.htm 

The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose 
shade you do not expect to sit. -- Nelson Henderson