BLAST Hates Breast Cancer!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. My family is all too aware of this awful disease. Here's our story, told by Sarah, my wife and BLAST partner.

WOW, am I lucky!  I’m sitting here writing this blog post.  I’m healthy, I have a lot of love in my life, and I cannot take that for granted.  I’m a Breast Cancer SURVIVOR!  I’m 46 and have 2 young kids and an awesome husband – and they still have me!  I have a new way to give back through our business, BLAST.  On October 4 from 6:30-9pm we’ll be hosting a private event at BLAST - $5 donation at the door, plus the sale of a BLAST-designed PINK ring and Tova Gold’s PINK Muchness Bands also benefiting a Breast Cancer Research and Patient Care charity.  And, each person will enter a free raffle to win a 20-40% discount on any other purchases that evening! 

I started getting mammograms a little before my 40^th birthday at Holy Name – my maternal aunt had had breast cancer when she was 50 and my older sister had had some issues with benign calcifications.  I just wanted to be on top of the situation.   Every time I went to get my mammogram I would have to get extra images taken – something about dense tissue.  Every time they said “we just want to take a few more pictures” my stomach lurched.  In September 2008 during the usual dialog that happens just prior to the mammogram, the technician asked if I had felt anything unusual during my self -exams.  I mentioned that I didn’t know if it was unusual, but that I had felt an area that didn’t seem like anything else around it.  So, she taped a little metal bb to that spot and then proceeded to torture me in an effort to get good photos.  Ah the joys of womanhood!

I went off to work after that, taking the 167 into New York.  I think it was a Tuesday.  Later that afternoon my phone rang and the woman said that they had scheduled an appointment for me at 2:00 on Friday.  I remember thinking “that was a little presumptuous of them!”  Denial works in very interesting ways, I would learn.  They wanted to do an ultrasound, and I should be prepared because they might want to do a biopsy right on the spot.  Well, biopsy they did.  And for good measure, they inserted a metal bb near that spot so that they could keep tabs on it once I was closed up again, and then took another mammogram.  Ouch. (note to self: invest in bb’s)  That was Friday.  Saturday we went to a party for a dear friend who was turning 40.  I enjoyed some cocktails and smoked some cigarettes.  I wasn’t a regular smoker.  But, there are occasions when I found it enjoyable.  I said to a friend, “if it’s cancer, this may be my last cigarette.”  It was my last cigarette.  I enjoyed it. 

Tuesday rolled around – results day.  I called at 8am the minute they were open.  The woman said the doctor wanted to know if I’d like to get the results in person or if I would be ok getting them later that day in my office over the phone.  Hmmm.  Scott and I jumped in the car and were there in a few minutes.  I had invasive breast cancer.  Absolutely not there on the films from prior years.  It had developed and grown to over 1cm in less than a year.  That’s when I said to myself and my husband, and would repeat it many times, “this is a treatable condition – my next year is going to suck, but I will not die.”  Denial?  I really don’t think so.  I trusted that because of early detection, science and really good health insurance I would not die from breast cancer. 

So, the order of things was: 1. Surgical Oncologist removed the cancer and removed some under-arm lymph nodes to see if the cancer has started to spread; 2. Got the results of that surgery – nice clean cancer-free tissue all around the blob of cancer, and no it hadn’t spread; 3. Met with a medical oncologist to talk about whether I needed any other kind of treatment.  Ugh.  Chemo and Radiation were recommended; 4.got chemo from December through March; 5. Met Radiation Oncologist and got radiation throughout May; 6. Went on vacation in June!; 7. Continue to take cancer-preventing medication and be monitored closely; 8. Keep gratitude top of mind and live the life you want to live, right now!

I worked throughout treatment.  I did not want to change the rhythms of our household.  I lost most of my hair (this is where Denial came in handy).  My dear friends fed my family and hosted my husband and kids when I was sleeping off a chemo treatment.  My coworkers were supportive and helped me to not think about cancer 24/7.  Breast Cancer Survivors shared their stories and resources with me.  I’ve walked the Avon Foundation’s 2-day walk in New York two times, raising over $14,000 for Breast Cancer Research and Patient Care.  I will never stop sharing my experience and helping other women as they face the issue of Breast Cancer. 

Ladies, please don’t skip mammograms and please see a doctor if you think you feel something out of the ordinary (that last part goes for men, too).  It turns out that my cancer cells were pretty mean and ugly under the microscope.  If not caught, they would have spread quickly.  Unchecked, you might have just read a very different story by a different author.

Please join us at BLAST on October 4 as we do our part to fight Breast Cancer.