Home » Health & Wellness » Breast Cancer Research » Again?

Again?

© Sue Axler

My dear friend, Sue, continues to share her incredible journey through breast cancer not once, not twice, but three times, with you in her own words, personal with no reservations. Way to go, Sue!!!

We all know what it means to hear , "You have breast cancer". Everyone reading this will vividly remember where she was when the she heard the words.

In my case, I was at a telephone booth outside of a lecture hall in the Goddard Space Center near Washington D.C. Three days before, I had gone to a breast surgeon to check on a bloody discharge that I had shown to my gynocologist. Since to me only lumps meant breast cancer, I had attributed this bleeding to some type of scab opening up, occasionally causing small blood stains on my bra and nightgown. The surgeon had assured me that there could be serveral reasons for this, but only with the pathology report would we know for certain.

I left the conference on moon rocks and space exploration and entered another dimension in time and space when I made my call , that of the breast cancer survivor.

"Susan", my doctor said, "I have good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first?". I chose the good news. "You'll live." he replied. The bad news? "You have breast cancer." As we all know, the world then turns upside down. The race is on. The decisions to be made, the consultations, the wigs, biopsies, surgeries, the chemotherapy, the radiation. And somehow we make it; a little bedraggled, a bit wiser.. We move on and we value life more. We move on and we worry. We move on and we read. We move on and gradually we begin to forget. Months turn to years. We race for the cure. We pin on pink ribbons. We courageously share our stories and encourage women to be diligent and assertive. We stress early detection and second opinions. We comfort the newly diagnosed. As the years pass, as life's milestones are reached and we are still here, we begin to truly live. The worries, once vivid, are shadows now. We become breast cancer survivors. Until the shock. As knowledgeable as I THOUGHT I was, I was really not ready when my breast cancer returned. My doctors had become part of my life and I dutily visited surgeon, radiologist, gynocologist, happy to be given a clean bill of health.

The copyright of the article Again? in Breast Cancer Research is owned by Sue Axler. Permission to republish Again? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.