I am a 39-year old educated (Yale Chemistry PhD), career-orientated (in biotech managing clinical trials in cancer), mother of two healthy kids (3-year old Curtis and 5-month old Samantha), who was diagnosed with breast cancer during my 5th month of pregnancy. I?d like to share my story with Ladies Home Journal readers. This is not a story about breast cancer awareness, or how supportive friends, family and the cancer community are, or how I made drastic changes in my life as a result. This is a story about me, a woman who?s been in control and made her own decisions all of her adult life, and how I powered througha curveball that was thrown at me.
Regards,
Grace Mann
My story
[Pregnancy] I?m sitting in the waiting room browsing through an Entertainment Weekly magazine that is 4 months old. After about 10 minutes of vacuous reading, Wilson comes rushing in the door and announces, ?Oh good, you haven?t been called in yet.? My husband and I are waiting for our 20 week fetal ultrasound to see the first pictures of our baby daughter. The results of the amniocentesis we did a couple weeks earlier told us that our second child was a girl. Eventually we?re called in and we see the first black and white images of our daughter. The radiology tech and doc say all looks normal. My husband Wilson and I were very excited to be expecting another baby to go along with our then two year old energetic son, Curtis. I secretly thought we were very lucky because at 38 years old, there were certainly no guarantees that Curtis would have a sibling. The fact that it was a girl was just icing on the cake. I never thought about whether I wanted a boy or girl because I knew there was nothing I can do to influence the outcome. I?m annoyingly pragmatic that way; I try not to waste time or energy toward something that is not productive or that I have no control or influence over.
[Biopsy] During my first OB appoint (approximately 8 weeks into my pregnancy), my doctor noticed a small lump in my left breast. She said that it was likely nothing, but suggested that I may as well get a breast ultrasound the same time as my fetal ultrasound ?while I?m at it.? I felt the small bump before, but I assumed it was calcified milk as I had instances of clogged ducts while breast feeding Curtis. As I?m lying on my back with gunky gel on my breast, the radiology tech doesn?t say much; some techs are extremely chatty while others are almost mute, like this one who was very focused on her job I assumed. Finally the doc comes in, does a couple of more scans and says, ?Well it is some sort of a solid mass. But based on your age and history, the probability is that it is nothing, maybe a benign mass.? She needed to do a biopsy to confirm and asked if I can stay for a bit. I had an important meeting that Monday afternoon and returned Thursday for the biopsy. Thursday?s procedure was pretty uneventful. I lay on my side as the doc took 3 pink-colored samples from my breast. Each sample felt like a sharp pinch or a tattoo needle penetrating the skin. The brief pain was much more tolerable than holding still in an awkward position for minutes at a time. After the procedure, she said the results should be back by Monday. I was not worried about the outcome in the least. I remember feeling more annoyed that I had to do all this ?extra stuff.? I whole-heartedly believed it was nothing to worry about; once again, there was nothing to do to influence the outcome so I devoted no time to thinking about it.
Source: http://www.divinecaroline.com/33/132477-grace-pregnant-cancer
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