Karen Lynch: My Survivor Story (Part II of III)

Like many breast cancer survivors, the pathology from my my partial mastectomy indicated that I was estrogen receptive so I went on Tamoxifen to reduce my risk of recurrence. I decided to go through genetic testing to determine if I carried an abnormality in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes — I did not. I really had a ‘best case scenario’ cancer and a low risk of recurrence. However, I lived with a certain fear that my cancer would come back as I think all survivors do.

I went to all my follow up doctors appointments (whew, were there a lot of follow up doctors appointments). My first ‘post-treatment’ mammogram was clean. I spent the next year of my life trying to put the experience behind me, trying not to worry, trying to get back to a normal life, though it would be a new normal for sure.

The following year I had another abnormal mammogram — not worrisome enough to warrant a biopsy, but my doctors wanted to keep a close watch on me. The same abnormality appeared six months later; still no biopsy. Six months after that, however, another change appeared in my breast tissue and it was time for another biopsy.

In April of 2006, not quite three years after I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time, I was diagnosed a second time. Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. IDC. Stage 1. (As an aside … experiencing a recurrence is something I find very difficult to talk about. The good news is that I faced my fear head on. The bad news is that I now live with the idea that I had what my doctors call recurring cancer. You’re with me if you don’t like the way that sounds. but more on that later.) Back to my treatment …
cancer was growing in the same breast where it had grown before, in my surgically altered and previously irradiated breast tissue. We didn’t know if it was a relapse of my original cancer or a new primary. With that uncertainty in mind, I needed to decide if I should remove the affected breast or both breasts (”a completely reasonable choice” if you’d asked my breast surgeon).

I wavered, unable to decide what was best for me. But my husband was clear from the getgo. “Both,” he said when I pressed him for his opinion. “We’re not going through this again in another few years.” That was all it took for me to decide. If I could help it, I wasn’t going to subject my husband or my three children to another diagnosis down the road. So I had a double mastectomy.

Because I wanted reconstruction, and implants weren’t a great choice for me since I’d already had radiation to that breast, I opted for a TRAM flap surgery. THAT’s an entire post or twenty in itself. For another day. Meanwhile, I also switched hormone therapies — and began receiving Zolodex shots to officially put my pre-menopausal body into chemical menopause. I was considered cured a second time.

You would have thought that meant I was done having surgery …

Click here to read Part III of My Survivor Story.

(Image: Karen Lynch)