New to the group

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone--

I recently joined this group and I wanted to tell you a little about

myself. I'm a 41-year-old single mother of two school-aged

daughters who also helps take care of my father who is in the last

stage of Parkinson's. April 24th of this year I was diagnosed with

Stage I infiltrating ductile carcinoma. Since that time, I have had

a mastectomy, 4 rounds of chemo, a prophylactic mastectomy, and have

begun reconstruction.

I was told in early April that I had a BI-RADS 3 lump (10% chance

that it was cancer). Normal protocol for that, I was told, was to

come back in 6 months. I kept thinking that someone has to be in

the 10% and it could be me. I refused and asked for a biopsy at

that time. It was malignant. I am so thankful that I listened to

that voice saying it could be me. What I have already gone through,

quite possibly, could have just been the beginning. Instead, I'll

be finished with my reconstruction and I'll have my hair back by the

end of the year.

I'm looking forward to 2007. Although, as I have said before, I'll

never be the same again. In many ways, that is a good thing. I

look at life as so absolutely awesome now. I don't take any of it

for granted. The sunsets, trees, flowers, breeze, and most of all,

my daughters are more precious and beautiful than ever before.

I'm looking forward to participating in this group. Take care of

yourselves--