Two years ago this week, I was sure that I would be dead by now. This owing to the mighty power and almost primal fear conjured up by the words "breast cancer"; the "big C", as our society considerately puts a humorous twist to a diagnosis of cancer. That fact remains, even though statistics state that one out of ten to one of six women, and a significant number of men, will be diagnosed with breast cancer. This does not help us to accept a breast cancer diagnosis as routine. Many of us cannot even hear the positive information about early detection and intervention. Today, treatments save lives. Yet, the feared ghoul of death by cancer looms in our minds.

Only a generation ago, the radical mastectomy, with its removal of breast muscles, nerves and nodes, was considered the lifesaving surgical approach to breast cancer. Little consideration was given to the wrenching results of this approach on the patient’s physical well-being and psyche. Chemotherapy, with its variety of highly toxic substances, has been used for only the past fifty years. Historically, chemotherapy has actually been as feared as cancer itself.

The breast cancer victims of today move into the next millennium with incredible knowledge having been achieved by researchers and healthcare professionals diagnosing and treating, and curing cancer patients.

The term cancer "survivor" has largely replaced "victim", but at the time that a person receives the diagnosis of breast cancer the word "victim" fits the situation most aptly. At that point you are not yet a survivor, and what is more, you are quite sure that you have just been given a death sentence. Take heart-you have not! You and I have more tools at our disposal, and more knowledge and abilities than any generation before us. We are the Baby Boomers! We hunger for information and we have the resources to get it. We are adventurers! We have survived the hip 60’s, Korea, Viet Nam, political strife, and carried the Stock Market to all time highs! We are "strong and invincible", sings Helen Reddy, and believe me, it is a necessary belief to have now.

First, get your head clear. Do whatever you have learned to do in your life to face up to a tough situation. I am assuming that you have had some rough times in your life. Are you married? That is a good place to begin. Husbands are usually good for testing your grit. Is the honeymoon over? Mine wasn’t, but more on that later. Are you raising children? They are always good for the troubles of the caliber that we are addressing here. Have you ever had five years taken off your life by losing your three year old at the mall? Raising teens have you awakened at two A.M. to find one adolescent wasn’t in his room and your car wasn’t in the garage? You got through those hard times. How?

Second, examine your spiritual strength. What higher power do you turn to? God, Food, Alcohol, Drugs, Sex? This is the time to look that square in the face. Exercise? Buddha? How have you learned to achieve inner peace and combat stress? It is important to be aware of how you achieve inner calm. You will need to reach inside yourself for the strength to face the fears and uncertainty of surgery, and the possible chemotherapy and radiation treatments ahead of you.

Today the standard cancer treatments are much less extreme than those offered ten to fifteen years ago. I can state that with some authority, because I am a Registered Nurse (RN). During the senior year of my baccalaureate education, and five more years, I worked with breast cancer patients. That experience did much to help me understand the "extreme" stress that breast cancer patients and their families undergo. I will share some of that saga in a later chapter.

Third, what does your support system look like? To whom do you turn for advice? Are you going to tell your husband all of your worst fears and uncertainties? What about the children? Should you tell your employer? Do you have a boyfriend? Will you confide in parents or siblings? Perhaps you are involved in specialized activities or volunteer work? Will you continue your normal routine? Maybe you have two jobs? How flexible are you? You certainly have accomplished a lot in your life. You will get through this tough time, too! Now, try to relax and read through these pages.

Look into the life of another person who has been terrified by the screaming banshee of breast cancer, and survived to tell you her story. You are not alone in your fear, and you won’t be alone in your triumph! Take heart and read on...

This book would not have been written if I had not been diagnosed with breast cancer in the winter of ‘95. A further inspiration for writing it has been to spread the word to others with breast cancer, that they are not alone. Although, breast cancer is a relatively common disease of our Baby Boomer generation, personal accounts are not so common. Perhaps, this is because the experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer is itself debilitating. A breast cancer patient may emerge from the numerous surgical, chemotherapy and radiation interventions with something like post traumatic stress syndrome. These survivors may also ultimately suffer from depression and the anxiety of fearing a recurrence of the disease; none of which inspires creative writing.

Hopefully, this sharing of information will be of help to you and others. It is meant to serve as a support and inspiration, toward a healthy future, for other breast cancer survivors.