Breast cancer survivor: I'm thankful I came to MD Anderson first

有些人去MD Anderson在他们筋疲力尽之后，所有其他地方癌症治疗options。But for me, the thought of going anywhere else made no sense.

我不会说that cancer didn’t scare me. Because by the time I was diagnosed withbreast cancer53岁时，癌症已经杀死了我的父亲，父亲，父亲，嫂子和婆婆。它继续在我丈夫的脸上留下标记，每次额外都有莫赫斯手术he endures to keep皮肤癌at bay.

但在工作后MD Andersonfor almost 30 years, I knew that it was the only place to go for癌症治疗。

我的乳腺癌的诊断

I learned I might havebreast cancerwhile I was on vacation in November 2014. I’d just retired fromMD Anderson并且仍然从手术中恢复去除我的子宫和良性11磅的肌瘤肿瘤。我的丈夫和我也将成为空洞的人：我们最年轻的女儿刚刚订婚。

然后我接到了我的妇科医生办公室关于可疑的电话mammogram。护士试图在告诉我它的同时保持声音平静，但我可以告诉这个消息并不好。她只是不想通过电话这么说。

I scheduled a细针活检with that doctor for the day I returned to Houston. Then, I continued my vacation, because I didn’t think a single week was going to make any difference. It’s not that I was in denial; I just wanted to be in control. I was also determined that my family wouldn’t have to say goodbye to me for a very long time.

我的breast cancer treatment

The biopsy showed a fairly small tumor in my right breast. But when I read the pathology report, it sounded like there were three different types of breast cancer involved. I was very confused. So, I calledMD Anderson。

Once I got there,韦尔莱拉博士德雷弗explained the pathology report to me. She confirmed that I had breast cancer, but said what I’d thought were different types of cancer were actually just multiple受体或癌细胞表面上的分子。他们的存在（或缺席）有助于确定哪种类型的类型treatmentpatients are offered. In my case, the breast cancer was estrogen receptor positive, HER2 negative, and progesterone receptor negative. That, combined with other factors, meant that化疗对我不起作用。

Instead, Dr. Tereffe andDr. Meghan Karuturirecommended a lumpectomy (a type ofsurgery去除肿瘤），然后四周放射治疗。阿比盖尔博士2015年1月29日进行了肿块术。整形外科医生Geoffrey Robb博士在我的右乳房上做了一些重建。然后，Tereffe博士在后面监督了辐射治疗。

Together, my doctors made me feel in control of something I really had no power over. They were a world-class team. I could not have selected a better group to care for me.

乳腺癌后保持健康

我响了钟声在2015年3月标志着我的乳腺癌治疗结束，一周在我女儿美丽的婚礼前一周。

I’ve shown no evidence of disease since then, and I’m determined to stay that way. I do my best to get a夜晚的睡眠。我有一个常规的exercise routine，由私人教练监督。我保留了一个positive attitude。And I watch我吃的东西很接近。

明年春天将标志着我一直患上癌症的五年。而且我很高兴每天为帮助我到这里的球队。我不仅幸存下来，我茁壮成长。来到MD Andersonright away saved my life. And now, it’s giving me my best opportunity to stay that way.

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