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This thread is a painful one for me. My little sister, my only sibling, died 23 years ago at age 53 because a doctor in Alaska refused to take seriously the lump she found in her breast. She went to him for 6 months in which he kept telling her the growing lump was just a cyst, with no further exam! She finally was concerned enough to call me in Arizona and ask me if I knew a doctor she could fly down and see. My doctor immediately did tests and found a large cancerous tumor. No one in our family had ever had breast cancer, but both my sister and I had been in southern Utah during the atomic tests at Frenchman's Flat in Nevada. They had always delayed testing until the wind was blowing away from Las Vegas, which of course means the wind was blowing toward southern Utah. Thousand of people, men, women, and children, have died over the years since then because of exposure to radiation due to those tests. I am alive because my sister insisted that I have early tests for BC, and then insisted I have a full bilateral mastectomy when I was diagnosed. She lived for 7 years after her diagnosis only because of aggressive treatment and chemo but if the idiot doctor in Alaska had listened to her in the first place, she might have lived longer. I was diagnosed in 1985, the same year my little sister died. My children were exposed to radiation too and are tested frequently. My sister has been gone 23 years and I am still fighting after 23 years only because I got help early enough. I think we need to spread the word to our friends, sisters and daughters. We need to be aggressive against this insidious disease. If your doctor won't listen to you, find one who will. It's your life! I will step off the soapbox now! Hugs, Tricia
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