I had a double mastectomy to avoid breast cancer.it was too late

I have had and survived breast cancer for 15 years. I mean, I tried so hard to avoid cancer, but I managed to get breast cancer. He was 34 when I got my diagnosis. Having cancer at a young age makes people permanently associated with the disease. As a long-time advocate of prevention, I have no other option.

The words ‘breast’ and ‘cancer’ in the news immediately catch my eye. These spark my hope that women may soon benefit from new techniques and methods for early detection and more gentle treatment. According to the latest federal guidelines, Lowered recommended age for baseline mammography Because these guidelines are useless for three generations of women in my family, including myself, and for countless other women just like us.

my mother died in breast cancer 42 years old. When she had her first mammogram at age 40, she already had a cancerous tumor the size of an orange, which turned out to be stage 3 cancer. She was ill for many years until her mother died with her breasts and breasts. ovarian cancer She is in her 40s and was probably diagnosed around 40.

As the eldest of five children, I knew something had to change to stop the cycle of premature death experienced in my family. When I became the daughter of a motherless daughter, I decided to take breast health seriously when I was not yet an adult.

I do regular self-examinations, see a breast specialist twice a year, and learn about the latest preventive methods. I breastfed her four children, exercised (chasing children around the house is also considered exercise), and did not smoke. I use a low-estrogen form of birth control, and if my doctor had told me it could also reduce my chances of developing breast cancer, I would have eaten porcupine.

The year I turned 30, two things happened. One was the death of my 55-year-old father from an illness. colon cancerincreased focus on prevention.

Second, my breast specialist recommended that I have a baseline mammogram. I was much younger than the recommended age for a mammogram, so I had to wrestle with the insurance company and the receptionist at the breast imaging center, who refused the appointment.

“You shouldn’t have a mammogram until you’re 40,” they explained.

“I’ll die before I’m 40,” I retorted.

When the technician called me back to the imaging room, I got the baseline with a terrible fright. She must have seen something in my scan and she also wanted to take a picture of her. My heart was pounding in my ears when she squeezed my chest between two panes of glass for the second time in that hour. I thought of my children at home. I thought about how a cancer diagnosis would affect my ability to care for my children. I couldn’t bear the thought that my little daughter would be the next to be labeled a “motherless daughter.” Fortunately, the “something” she saw turned out to be nothing. A follow-up is scheduled for next year.

Immediately after that, I learned how I could be. Tested for BRCA gene.this mutation Give carrier an 87% chance You have a 66% chance of developing breast cancer and a 66% chance of developing ovarian cancer. But given my family history, I thought I had a 100% chance of testing positive. Tragically, I also learned that the BRCA gene was first identified in his 1994. It was the same year my mother died. When blood tests confirmed my hypothesis that I had the gene, I researched a double prophylactic mastectomy. A mastectomy would reduce my cancer risk to 5%, better than the general population. Angelina Jolie With this procedure still years away from being on the map, my decision seemed revolutionary.

In November 2008, I donned a yellow hospital robe, fluffy socks, and a hairnet, tearfully waving at my husband as I walked down a sterile hallway to the operating room. The reality of undergoing general anesthesia for the first time suddenly hit me. The fear of dying on the table overwhelmed me, even as I supported the decision to have the mastectomy. What happens when you try to keep four children alive and they lose their mother?

Despite hospital rules forbidding bringing outside items into the operating room for fear of contamination, I persuaded the team to allow children aged 7, 5, 3, and 1 in the camp. I asked for permission to put the portrait under my pillow.

When I woke up nine hours later, I asked the nurse to hand me the picture and silently thanked my children for giving me the courage I needed. I felt reborn. Instead of my breast tissue, there was stomach fat and muscle from the reconstruction. Instead of constant dread, there was a lightness I had never known before.

I was free

Six days later, I got a call from the surgeon saying I was recovering in my recliner at home with drains hanging from my chest and abdomen. My pathology revealed an early but advanced cancer growing in one breast. She and her surgical team are shocked.

They all agreed, “I saved my life.”

As an added precaution, I had eight rounds of chemotherapy (the same cocktail my mother had 17 years ago, exactly what I was trying to avoid), a bilateral oophorectomy, and at age 35 I went through menopause.

Having a strong family history and the BRCA1 gene is nothing to be afraid of. It is empowering. So instead of waiting until your 40s, it’s time to get advice and testing in your 20s.

Of course, the new federal guidelines don’t apply to anyone with my risk profile. But I know too many women – friends, co-workers, friends of friends – who have been diagnosed with changes in the shape, feel, or behavior of their breasts in their 30s or younger, even without a family history. . Ethnicity also plays an important role. Like me, Ashkenazi Jewish women of Eastern European descent have a 1 in 40 chance of being a BRCA carrier. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand therefore at higher risk.

Federal guidelines are general and based on statistics that favor only some. And while I know not all women can do the same as I can for various reasons: finances, inadequate insurance, resources, education, etc., it’s less dramatic and easier than surgery. There are many other ways in which early prevention can be practiced. For this reason, it is very important to seek individualized medical advice.

I often say that my children saved my life because they gave me the courage to undergo such horrible procedures. In fact, it was her mother’s early death that inspired me to pursue a mission to avoid breast cancer, so I have to credit her mother for saving my life. yeah.