Why would I get cancer? Why should I get cancer? Why could I get cancer? Breast cancer is such an inscrutable disease. Even after the cancer is discovered, the why cannot definitively be ascertained. The second question is the easiest for me to answer. Breast cancer does not discriminate. All races, all ages, the men are afflicted, although in much smaller numbers.

Perhaps the order of the questions can be changed. Why would I get breast cancer? Well, I’m a woman. One of nine will get it in our lifetime. I have also read statistics that state as many as one in six may be diagnosed. Breast cancer is the second highest killer of women in our country, second only to heart disease. We live in a society that inflicts many known carcinogens, cancer causing agents, onto its population. It is a long proven fact that hydrocarbons cause testicular and lung cancer in men. Yet, as the Baby Boomer generation we have enjoyed the prosperity of the technological society that we live in. This includes the ten fold increase of trains and planes and the one to four car ratios in families, complete with all of the smoke and smog that they produce. We defy anyone to tell us that we cannot have these transportation conveniences.

We have our clothes dry cleaned by highly toxic chemicals. Our food quality and beauty are enhanced by chemicals and hormone additives. This includes meats as well as fruits and vegetables. Although, there is evidence that and genetic alterations in wildlife and humans are occurring, we rarely become concerned. Public outcries against soil and air pollution seldom grow to large enough numbers or the intensity needed to effect the change of rules, laws or federal policies that could change or undo many of our practices and waste management procedures that are causing pollution. For instance, it is common knowledge that nuclear waste storage practices in the United States has the potential to contaminate the water supplies of our future generations. There is public knowledge that a large supply of such stored waste is seeping into the ground water of the great northwest. This radiated waste will reach the Columbia River in twenty to one hundred years.

I could obviously wander far from my main story. Now, back to the WHY COULD I have breast cancer question. I have used hair color for more than twenty years of my life. I have enjoyed a myriad of beautifying creams, lotions and cosmetics. Now I read that a chemical in many of those products, ED for short, is being removed from European markets because it is cancer causing.

I have celebrated most every special event of my adult life with a drink. Not always adhering to the one or two healthy glasses of red wine edict either.

I did not liberally smoke marijuana or ever use heavier drugs, but I smoked cigarettes about five years of my life. Fortunately, I quit after a lot of moral support from friends and family. My sister, Nancy, must receive credit for constant vigilance to insure that I did not smoke. Rummaging through my purse was not off grounds if she thought that I was wearing "aroma smoke". Smoking cigarettes was one of the hardest habits that I ever broke. It ranks up there with the hellish feat of breaking the fingernail biting habit of my youth.

Perhaps, it all boils down to too much of anything is not good. Too much for one person’s system is okay for another?

The liver does an excellent job of filtering and storing toxic substances that the body does not expel. As we age the filtering process becomes less effective and leaves minute particles of substances in our systems. Some of these particles may migrate to mammary tissue and mutate into their own tiny life system that is a parasite to our own lives.

Family history can point to heredity as a risk, especially where a mother, sister, grandmother or an aunt has had breast cancer. Our very age is relevant, if over forty-five and pre-menopausal. Here we are: the female Baby Boomers. There are more of us to get breast cancer. Breast cancer is the leading killer of women between thirty five and fifty four years old. We are also the recipients of sophisticated mammography available for early detection. Early detection seems to be the key to increases in survival rates. If that small growth can be removed before it spreads to overwhelm our systems, we may enjoy a longer life. We will also have a much better quality life after the treatments are completed. Early intervention can save our lives! Early detection will greatly improve the quality of our lives.

During my own recovery period, I was surprised to meet two women who each had discovered a breast lump and were watching it, along with their physicians. WHY? There should be no such occurrences in this day and age. If it is some type of benign growth, it should be removed as soon as possible, so that it cannot turn into cancer. When a physician, or other health care provider, suggests that you "wait and we’ll check it later", say NO! Take charge! Insist on removal, and immediately. Second opinions are not only to determine disease, but to determine the treatment. Find a physician who is willing to do immediate and complete removal of the growth. Today, more than ever before, we must speak up and be a part of that decision making process. This is your body. This is your life. This is the future quality of your life. This is the length of your life. Do you want to have someone else, who barely knows you, make these important decisions for you? Talk to someone who will listen as you verbalize your initial plan of action. Do not allow yourself to be lulled into a false sense of security by depending on another person’s "expertise". You are the expert, when it comes to really knowing what is best for you. Besides, you will have to live the rest of your life with decisions that you make now.

The healthcare intervention into our lives for breast cancer is relatively brief. It will feel like forever, but look past it. See yourself the next year on a shopping spree, with loved ones on a trip, relaxing in the sun, working in your garden, taking a cooking class. Float, fly, swim in your mind!

Whether it is caused by radiation exposure, some kind of hormone or anti-hypertensive treatment, alcohol tobacco use, or pre-existing fibrocystic disease, the growth should be removed!

Apparently most lumps are painless, so regular breast exams are a must. As soon as any lump is discovered, you take action. Do not procrastinate. Do not go to your MD or HMO with head down and say, "What do you want me to do?" You tell the physician that you want the irregular growth removed. That way a thorough cell examination can be done. Consider this. The lump that I and Richard felt was the size of a quarter. It was growing along a muscle toward the hollow of my underarm, so the depth was difficult to determine. The biopsy report stated that the actual tumor was only two centimeters in length and one centimeter wide. Irritation of the surrounding tissue, muscles and bone were causing swelling (edema) that covered a much larger arena than the actual cancer growth. What would a needle biopsy have detected? Could a partial sample of the swollen tissue have provided any cancer cells that would have verified the diagnosis?

A good friend of mine related a story to me about her fifty year old neighbor, Nadine. Nadine and Bob were retiring in New Jersey. Prior to moving to Florida, Nadine went to her life long family MD for a complete check up. Nadine called his attention to a nickel size painless lump in her left breast. Dr. Pro asked her a few questions about her family history and reminded her that according to her health record, she had previously experienced a cyst in the opposite breast. He instructed Nadine not to worry. He was not worried. Nadine was preparing to retire to paradise. Reassured by Dr. Pro that there was nothing to be concerned about, she went home and continued focused on the retirement plans. Several months later Nadine and Bob moved to their new home in Florida. Six more months passed as they adjusted to the new area and settled in to their wonderful new home. Nadine was happy and busy with her new life. She was also conscious of her family doctor’s caution to, "See a doctor in the near future if the lump doesn’t go away." Nadine felt it was a bit early for her next annual check-up, but she noticed that the lump was still there and it seemed a little larger. Nadine complained to Bob that she was tiring more easily than usual. She made an appointment with an area physician for a check up. The lump was biopsied and diagnosed as breast cancer. This cancer had had time to spread to Nadine’s bones and lungs. Nadine died a year later from this metastatic breast cancer. The odds are that actions taken at the time the lump was first discovered might have given her a more favorable outcome, and a longer life.

The primary reason that I am writing this book is to reach out to any of you who may be concerned about a breast lump that you now have. Do you know someone who has complained to you that they have a breast lump and have not yet gone to a physician? You may save their lives by encouraging them to take early action and have it removed.

Today, we talk more openly about sexual topics. There is no doubt that our breasts are an integral part of our sexuality. I’ll admit that one of my first thoughts, when I found a breast lump, included mental images of my chest with only a left breast. Right behind that thought was the concern of how my husband would react. I wondered, "Is he imagining me without breasts?"

The loss of any body part causes grief. Grief, with its various stages of adjustment. Denial usually pops up as the first defense method. Over the rim of cold dread I was experiencing, that other voice in my head was playing this lump down, all the way to "it’ll probably be gone tomorrow."