She Refused To Let Cancer Derail Her Life, And She Has 2 Simple Pieces of Advice For Other Women
By Dee Dee Catalano
A routine mammogram. A follow-up mammogram. Ultrasound of left breast. Ultrasound-guided biopsy of a spot in left breast. An interminable six-day wait for biopsy results.
My mobile phone rings.
“I’m sorry, but it is cancer.”
With those words, my life took a detour shared by millions of women. As a friend told me, “Welcome to the club no one wants to join.” The breast cancer club.
I was 52 years old and in excellent health, with no family history of breast cancer or cancer of any kind. I had gotten the phone call shortly after arriving at work, so I immediately got back into my car and drove the 45 minutes home. It was a brilliantly sunny day, unusually warm for Seattle in June. My thoughts bounced between, “Everything is going to be fine,” to “This is going to kill me.”
When I got home my husband, Frank, and I went on a long walk and had lunch out. We tried to focus on immediate next steps and not imagine what the future might bring when so much was still unknown. The next day we went to see the surgeon. If I could give one piece of advice to a woman newly diagnosed with breast cancer it would be this: take someone with you to your medical appointments. It’s impossible to absorb all of the information the doctors will give you and having someone you trust to take notes and ask questions is invaluable. Frank came to all of my pre- and post-surgery appointments (and he still comes to my twice a year oncology checkups and takes notes on his smartphone. Yes, I’m keeping him).
I had several decisions to make. Lumpectomy or mastectomy? A lumpectomy would be followed by radiation; a mastectomy would not. Chemotherapy would depend on whether the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes and other factors regarding the tumor’s size and biology. My surgeon cited evidence-based medicine in recommending that I have a lumpectomy. But the final decision was up to me.
That brings me to the second piece of advice I would give to women in a similar situation: take your time. Except in cases of aggressive, fast-growing tumors, you don’t have to make an instant decision. Take the time to talk to your family and friends and keep asking your doctor all the questions you can think of (and have your partner write down all the answers). Don’t feel pressured to make a decision at that first appointment. As frightening as cancer is, you can take the time you need to feel comfortable with a decision that will impact the rest of your life. After several conversations and self-reflection, I decided to have a lumpectomy.
I was diagnosed on June 11, 2014. Frank and I had a long-planned trip to Scandinavia that had us leaving for ten days on June 30. Obviously, my life and health took precedence over any trip, no matter how much we had been looking forward to it. However, if it was at all possible, we still wanted to go. I asked my surgeon what he thought, and he said that delaying my surgery until the middle of July would have no negative effect on the outcome. Hearing that, the decision was easy. We went to Scandinavia and scheduled my surgery for July 16.
We had a fabulous time. Although I certainly couldn’t forget that I had breast cancer, I was surprised by how much I was able to enjoy the trip and not be overwhelmed by thoughts of “what if.” By spending those ten days with my husband having new experiences together, I felt strengthened to face what awaited when I got home. Breast cancer had not derailed our vacation, and I wasn’t going to let it derail my life.
It’s been over four years since my diagnosis, and I am doing well with no evidence of disease. I consider myself lucky. I have no ill effects from my surgery or treatment, and aside from a few (annoying) extra pounds from the aromatase inhibitor I take to help prevent recurrence, I can almost forget I had cancer. Almost. An unfortunate aspect of breast cancer is that you’re never 100% “cured.” There’s always a possibility of a recurrence. But there’s also a possibility I’ll be hit by a bus. I choose to focus on today. And today is a good day.
Every purchase at the Breast Cancer Site helps fund mammograms for women in need. Shop our Pink Ribbon collection!
