A Diet to Die For! Breast Cancer in Canada.

An article in The Vancouver Sun entitled “B.C. breast cancer tests under external review” after 22 women died (out of 58 women — that’s a shocking 40%!) underscores the necessity that women need to be their own advocate when they think something is wrong. You can read the article by clicking here.

If you have a doctor telling you that the lump is likely nothing more than a cyst or is nothing to worry about — and they haven’t conducted any tests to make that medical conclusion — and you have this instinctual feeling that concerns you, please, please, get a 2nd opinion — any maybe even a 3rd opinion.

I’m not suggesting that you find a medical practitioner that will tell you what you want to hear, but you need to be diligent about your own health and make decisions that will keep you alive longer — who cares if the doctor you’ve been going to since you were a baby thinks you’re over-reacting! Or the doctor at the walk-in/urgent care clinic thinks you’re a psych case! If you feel something is wrong, then there just might be something to be concerned about and you need to get another opinion.

This is Canada — the land of free healthcare! So what if getting a 2nd or 3rd opinion is inconvenient … so is planning a funeral … I’m sure you wouldn’t want to put your friends and family through that inconvenience either.

When the lump I had was unusually painful, I persisted in going back to the doctor after she said it’s probably a cyst and prescribed me anti-inflammatories. When the pain persisted, I kept going back to her and within a few months and many tests later, including a biopsy, it was confirmed that I had advanced breast cancer … from start to finish, from October 2008 to February 2009, I had a modified radical mastectomy and am alive today.

If I were here today with a painful lump, I’m quite sure I would be in Stage 3 or 4 now … and perhaps with only a life expectancy of a few years. I’d much rather live with one boob than be told I’ll be dead in a few years.

How much more proof do you need? Unless your doctor is Dr. Parnassus (see Heath Ledger’s trailer for the last film he will ever be involved with), you hopefully should have nothing to fear … for those not in the know about his tragic life, here is a link to Heath Ledger’s biography.

I don’t have too much to report or talk about these days … since I didn’t go through chemo either before or after surgery, I’m happy to report that I’m still alive thankfully.

My next mammogram is due in September … I don’t hold much faith in them since it didn’t find my 3 cm tumour last year … if it weren’t for the excrutiating pain I was in, I would likely be none the wiser sadly.

I do have interesting news I’ve been hesitating to write about … it’s sex and sexuality after breast cancer and a radical mastectomy.

My hormones seem to be going backwards … I have the same sex drive I did when I was 25! I hope that’s not indicative of passing time … meaning  I’ll reach puberty at 65  and start playing with dolls again at 80.

A friend suggested that I consider writing about sex because there may be many women who don’t feel like a “woman” after losing one or both breasts. I feel phenomenally well sexually but my self-image is still slightly skewed … that’s probably the hard part: matching how you feel with what you feel.

Any other women in a sexual conundrum? Please share your story … I can’t be the only one in overdrive