I’m 60 years old and a retired lawyer. I was first diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2006, and it came back, in the same breast, in December 2014. Both times, the cancer was discovered during a regular annual mammogram. I never had a “lump”.
Surprise
My first reaction was surprise. Nobody in my family ever had cancer before. Then I thought of my daughters. Although they were 23 and 20, they still needed me and I worried about them if I died. And then I thought about my mother. If I died, there wasn’t anyone else take care of her.
Fortunately, both times the cancer was found before it became invasive. I didn’t need chemo. The first time I had 3 lumpectomies, and 6 weeks of radiation treatments. This last time resulted in a single mastectomy.
Back in 2006, I didn’t have any family nearby. One daughter was teaching in Japan, and the other was away at college. My mother and siblings all lived in distant states. I didn’t tell anyone in my family about my cancer until after all of my surgeries, when I was sure what the prognosis was. And other than tell them I was “doing fine”, during my treatments and recovery I really didn’t share many details. I didn’t want them to worry, especially my daughters. I had my fiance (George) who I relied on for help when needed and for emotional support. And I told my boss and a few close co-workers who would be affected when I had to cut back at work for a few months. I think most people at work never knew I had cancer.
I had a high stress job that required a lot of travel. But I loved it. Until I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After that, it wasn’t fun anymore and I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to spend the next 10 years doing. So at age 55, on the first day I qualified for any type of a pension, I retired, cashed in my stock options, and moved to Miami! And I haven’t regretted that decision for a minute.
