I was a 41-year-old very healthy woman. I had never smoked, didn't drink, and had no family history of breast cancer or ANY cancer in my very large family. I did not have my period early and I breastfed both of my children. I breast fed my second child for 14 months. The only risk factor that I had was boobs! But, on July 17 2008, I earned my pink ribbon and the title of survivor with a diagnosis of DCIS and LCIS in my left breast. I cried for a few hours and then God's peace so filled me and carried me through the next months and kept the tears far away. I was blessed. I never asked "why me?" I always had the attitude of "why not me?" At times I even felt guilty that I got the "good" cancer and didn't have to go through chemo.
I had a lumpectomy in August of ‘08 and then began radiation. Radiation was not easy for me as I developed 2nd degree burns with blisters on day 25 of 33. But God is good and I healed quickly.
I started on Tamoxifen in January and loved it. I had zero side effects which I learned later was not such a good thing. My oncologist suspected correctly that I must have some mutant genes to metabolize Tamoxifen. Sure enough after blood work, I have the P450 CYP2D6 *5 *10 mutations, which puts me in the intermediate to poor metabolizer state. The good news is that now after 5 months of Tamoxifen I have regular hot flashes. This is a good thing because at long last my estrogen is blocked and my hypothalamus is missing it, thus giving me hot flashes. I never rush on these things.
All in all, cancer was a blessing to me. It let me allow others to care for me, and as a nurse of 20 years and a wife and mother of 17 years, that didn't often happen. I also truly understand now how precious life is and why it is called "the present". I try and treat each day as a gift not to be wasted.
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