My mother was rather well endowed and I recall numerous times that she had biopsies for suspicion of breast cancer but it always came back that she was fibrocystic. I too am fibrocystic and really hadn't put much stock in my grandmother's diagnosis as I wasn't completely convinced that she had breast cancer due to the testing methods at the time and the fact that we(mom and myself) had/have fibrocystic disease. I consider that this may be part of my denial or am I just rationalizing it all? I am not sure where I stand on all of this but know that my BRCA test came back negative so it is not genetic but also realize that only roughly 10% of all breast cancers are genetic so my kids are not out of the woods for sure. I impress upon them to do their check ups and to take care of themselves. I hope that some day we don't even have to talk about this, not out of shame or denial but rather that it has been conquered. Make it a great day! S
My grandmother passed when I was in high school from pneumonia after breaking her hip. I remember running to the hospital to see her and they turned to me and said she had passed. She was so special to me and I was her "little girl". When I look back though, I remember night after night putting on a blow up tube that went the length of her arm to reduce the swelling after having a mastectomy for breast cancer( obviously due to lymphedema). I didn't think much about it over the years except how hot and uncomfortable it must have been to have that plastic sleeve on and try to sleep with it on. I saw her disformed body but that didn't phase me either as that is what and how I knew her. I wondered what her thoughts were when she went through it as it was certainly before I could remember. She had always looked that way to me. How did they diagnose it and confirm that it was cancer? What kind of treatment followed. It wasn't discussed, ever. They didn't have mammogram, MRI, and so many things that are now just part of the normal when investigating lumps.
My mother was rather well endowed and I recall numerous times that she had biopsies for suspicion of breast cancer but it always came back that she was fibrocystic. I too am fibrocystic and really hadn't put much stock in my grandmother's diagnosis as I wasn't completely convinced that she had breast cancer due to the testing methods at the time and the fact that we(mom and myself) had/have fibrocystic disease. I consider that this may be part of my denial or am I just rationalizing it all? I am not sure where I stand on all of this but know that my BRCA test came back negative so it is not genetic but also realize that only roughly 10% of all breast cancers are genetic so my kids are not out of the woods for sure. I impress upon them to do their check ups and to take care of themselves. I hope that some day we don't even have to talk about this, not out of shame or denial but rather that it has been conquered. Make it a great day! S
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AuthorMy name is Sue Kilburn and I am a clinical nurse breast cancer educator at the Yolanda G. Barco Oncology Institute in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Archives
March 2015
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