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v-ness · 12-19-2009, 05:44 PM

i was "hyper-vigilant" and therefore found my own cancer while it was still Stage 1. i had a cluster of cysts in left breast in november 2008. horrified that i hadn't noticed them myself and thought 'my god, what if they'd been cancer?' stopped being haphazard about BSE's. then my sister had 2 friends diagnosed the same year with Stage 3 breast cancer. even though my mammogram in march 2009 was clear, i was doing BSE's all the time. never convinced i was doing them right. my paranoia paid off. felt the lump above left breast in mid-august. lumpectomy in late august proved it to be IDC and HER2+. if i'd waited for and relied solely upon my next mammo who knows how differently things might have been. valerie

12-19-2009, 05:44 PM	#38
v-ness Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: western ma Posts: 280	Re: How did you discover your cancer? i was "hyper-vigilant" and therefore found my own cancer while it was still Stage 1. i had a cluster of cysts in left breast in november 2008. horrified that i hadn't noticed them myself and thought 'my god, what if they'd been cancer?' stopped being haphazard about BSE's. then my sister had 2 friends diagnosed the same year with Stage 3 breast cancer. even though my mammogram in march 2009 was clear, i was doing BSE's all the time. never convinced i was doing them right. my paranoia paid off. felt the lump above left breast in mid-august. lumpectomy in late august proved it to be IDC and HER2+. if i'd waited for and relied solely upon my next mammo who knows how differently things might have been. valerie __________________ 8/09 - IDC 1.8 cm triple positive, lumpectomy left breast 10/09 began chemo (taxotere & carboplatin) and weekly herceptin. 1/21/10 finished chemo, continued on herceptin every 3 weeks until 10/2010. 2/10 began 7 wks of radiation 6/10 mom dies of primary peritoneal ovarian cancer 8/10 got my last remaining ovary out 10/10 mammogram all clear 3/11 MRI shows 5 'spots' in right breast, largest 1 cm unidentifiable on US needle biopsy proved the largest to be old inflamed cyst -phew! 7/10 switched to Arimidex 8/9 switched to Femara - allergic to arimidex Femara made me lose hair quickly so switched to Aromasin Aromasin made my hair fall out too and the bone pain was too much. back on Tamoxifen 1/2013. blood clot from trains and planes 5/2014 so on coumadin per onco for as long as i am on tamoxifen tamoxifen was supposed to be up with my 5 yrs in may but my boyfriend was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer so i am staying on tamoxifen indefinitely because i want some ammo against BC, given the stress. lost my husband in only 10 wks in 2007 to stage 4 esophageal cancer. cancer's screwing with another man i love 2/2016 - 6yrs in remission, off tamoxifen and off coumadin - yay!