Breast cancer – two simple words that can cause sheer terror. Regardless that with progress in treatment and early diagnosis a large number of females survive the cancer, it is difficult to stop pictures of serious weight loss, weakness, hair loss and particularly the loss of life Even with early detection it could still lead to the loss of a breast. When chemotherapy is required the results can be severe on the individual.
The biggest fear of course is that the cancer is not located while in the early stages That by the time it is found it is already metastasized breast cancer When that happens, the females 5 year survival rate, the statistical chances that she will still be alive five years following diagnosis falls drastically. Even with intense treatment a large number of women will succumb to the disease at that stage.
The day my spouse received the news that she had breast cancer was genuinely terrifying . The most difficult aspect was waiting to find out just how far her cancer had spread. Even though she had no symptoms my greatest fear was that we would learn she had stage 4 breast cancer Thankfully, her cancer was noticed while in the early stages. My wife had no lymph node involvement and the mass was fairly small. But she went through 3 attempts at breast preserving surgery. On all three occasions the margins came back positive for the cancer. After the third attempt her surgeon advised a mastectomy a more serious surgery followed by breast reconstruction and after that 5 years of hormonal therapy
In many ways she was fortuitous. Hers was not advanced breast cancer My wife did not need chemotherapy as her cancer responds more effectively to hormone therapy instead of chemotherapy. My wife doing great today. This is an experience, though, that I would not wish on anyone else. And I cannot even envision what families must endure when the diagnosis is one of stage 4 breast cancer. I wish only the best for anyone touched by this breast cancer.