I Am The Other Woman....

Well, October is here, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I really did not want to write this year, and I am having a hard time focusing on my fundraising efforts, I think after 4 years I may be heading into some sort or survival denial.

Initially I was involved with this cause because I had felt the need to get myself and my daughters behind a cause that affected family members, friends and acquaintances...Not me though. Every year we walked for all those "other women" who had the disease, not for me though. This wasn't a disease I was going to get. I kept my weight in check, was a runner, had a healthy diet, breastfed my children, didn't smoke or drink (at least heavily). It just wasn't going to happen to me.

Then it did, a diagnosis hit me from out of nowhere at age 37. No symptoms, no lump, just a gut feeling that something was wrong. I asked for a mammogram, just because. Got the letter from the Radiologist that there was an abnormal calcification, okay so what, abnormal readings happen, they were just being cautious. I was not going to be that "other woman."

My primary physician insisted on a biopsy right away. When my surgeon didn't have the same sense of urgency, my primary switched my surgeon. In the summer of 2006, I had a stereotactic biopsy and BAM....Invasive Ductal Carcinoma AKA Breast Cancer. I was now the "other woman" and my life changed forever...for better and for worse...and if it could happen to me, who the "hell" could be next.

My worst fears...were and are that that my girls will have to face this in 20 years. You see, a diagnosis for the mother of little girls sucks (at the time my girls were 3 and 6) because the worry is not only for one's own survival so that you can see your parenting mission through, it is also for your girls. The darkest concern here is that your babies will be destined to travel the same rough road that you had to travel through. Every parent's primary instinct is to protect their young and mine was no different at the time. So to face these fears, I was gene tested for BRCA 1 and 2. The test was negative, which meant that my girls could not inherit a gene from me that could predestine them to a breast and ovarian cancer diagnosis. Big news!

So where is this post going...the point is that we all go through life thinking we are going to live a smooth and happy existence, coasting through the many joys of life has to offer. We never think we are going to be that "other woman" and some day there is a 1 in 8 chance we will be her. While this may not seem like a high percentage, think about the lottery. If you knew you had a 1 in 8 chance of winning $1,000,000, you would put a nice bet on this chance to win.

All I ask is that you consider placing that same importance on your annual screenings; your mammogram, your pap smear, your MRI, whatever test you are told you need, don't put it off! An early detection saves lives, it saved my life in 2006.

Happy Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Be well and have a great year!