BREAST CANCER AWARENESS MONTH; FROM DARKNESS AND DESPAIR - Doris' Story

Cancer is a wicked, wicked disease... Kudos to all those involved in this project and the others like them that spread faith, courage and hope to so many. Survivors are a special kind of HERO. In honor of all those HEROS that all of us know and love, Delayed Reaction Lounge proudly re-posts Doris' story from last Spring.  Ladies... Don't put it off - schedule you mammogram today.  

 

GETTING IT BACK

Doris Jelinek

Ever feel like you are in a dream....everything is wonderful and suddenly you look up and there is a mac truck in your face? That is how I felt when I woke up from my breast biopsy back in Sept 2000.  My life was wonderful. I had three adorable kids who were the light of my life Tim 6, Matt 4 and Holly 2, and a great husband, Keith. The biggest thing I worried about was what kind of pancakes the kids and I were going to make that day, or what park we were going to head out to. Over a series of months I had noticed a chain of small lumps in my right breast develop  and thought for sure they were cysts. It was the breast surgeon that I finally saw that saved my life, Dr David Kaufman. Because my breast were dense at  32 years old, the lumps did not show up on the mammo and he insisted that I have them biopsied. I fought this idea. I was so busy with my kids and did not want to take the time to be in the hospital for a day. I also somehow thought that because I had such small breasts there was no way it would be cancer. Almost annoyed with having to do this procedure I dragged myself there. When I awoke from the anesthesia all I could see was the worried face of Dr Kaufman and the words I could not comprehend "Doris it is cancer, you have to come back tomorrow for a mastectomy"........Cancer? I didn't know anyone who had cancer. I did not have any of the risk factors. Had all three kids under thirty, breast fed them all, never on the pill, no family history, 32 years old. Are you kidding me????. "Fine"....I said to myself. I came home I looked my breast in the mirror, thanked it for nursing my three kids and serving me well....and said "goodbye".

MAY IS MELANOMA/SKIN CANCER DETECTION AND PREVENTION MONTH - THESE ARE ALL THE REASONS WHY I KNOW!

Dawn Boyle

I had originally set this post in drafts last week. My friend Tara had a video on her facebook wall, it was a number of people talking to their 16 year old self after the risks of skin cancer. It moved me.

My oldest daughter was born with a small chocolate chip sized birthmark on the inside of her upper arm. I never thought about it. She shows everyone, she even seems proud of it. On Monday, that little chocolate chip sent my world in a tailspin. I took her to her pediatrician to have something looked at. I mentioned that I had made an appointment for Sarah to see a dermatologist in early June. Let me flashback for a second, about a month ago I was in the ER with the same kid and a foot injury. We were at the hospital all night, even made friends with two little old ladies and their niece. One of the little old ladies was a retired nurse. She noticed Sarah's Chocolate chip and told me to have that checked out immediately. I blew it off. It all flooded back when the pediatrician wanted me to immediately go to Lake Success, New York to have a specialist take a look at that chocolate chip and have it biopsied. My heart sank. Why didn't I listen to that little old lady over a month ago? The video from Tara played over and over in my head. What a horrible mother I am. Why am I such a slacker? What the hell is wrong with me that I never had a dermatologist look at this before, she is going on 10 years old!!

With a knot in my throat I took my little girl in to the next doctor. He went over her with a fine tooth comb. He did measurements and took pictures of every mole on this kids body. He documented as Sarah and I told him of different times she was over exposed to the sun, once when she was on the beach in early spring, once down by the boat she got heat stroke, and then recently on our family trip. I patiently waited for the opportunity to ask him about the necessity for a biopsy. He asked her about sunblock, Sarah admitted that she wasn't a fan of her mother covering her with 50+ every hour on the hour during the summer. It all came down to this one moment. No, he didn't say it needed a biopsy. THANK GOD! The blood rushed back through the rest of my body. The guilt was over - I wasn't that bad of a mother.