In Sandra's Shoes

Whenever I run into a friend or colleague I haven't seen for several months, they ask about my health and whether or not I'm feeling okay. And I do appreciate it. And for the record, I feel great.

But one woman hesitated a little longer today to tell me she had just visited the doctor. She seemed to be feeling a little guilty because it had been about 10 years. She knew it was too long and felt very lucky that she was given a clean bill of health.

I remembered she had told me months earlier she was going to get a mammogram after learning I had breast cancer and she had finally had followed up on that promise.

I'm glad you went, I said. Just keep following up. And don't wait another decade.

Whenever I get a chance to talk to a group of women about health care, I emphasize that early detection of breast cancer is the key to saving lives.

Last Saturday, I talked with women attending the Camden County Women's Health Fair, an annual event that has lots of vendors and workshops on all aspects of physical and mental health.

I talked about life lessons I learned over the last year as I went through treatment and recovery from breast cancer.

The best part came at the end of my speech when a woman came up to me and said she he'd had a biopsy done but hadn't followed up. After listening to me, she planned to follow up.

That made my day. One more woman who is taking care of herself and will fight to continue to be there for her family.

As I told the women attending the conference, life is good.

One of my 21-year-old daughter's friends wanted to know if she could quickly get an appointment with my surgeon. She'd found a lump or something in her breast. Huh?

She was home from college on semester break and needed to see her quickly before heading abroad for a semester. What's going on? I asked my daughter. Before I could get a good answer, her mother called and we talked.

She had found something and she wanted to have it checked out. She was able to get an appointment and it turned out there was a mass that required surgery. It was benign.

Relief for us all. But we're so glad she made her mother aware. Studies show when younger women are diagnosed with breast cancer, it's often very agressive. But younger women also will have a breast mass that needs to be checked out.

Younger women have to do self exams as well as more mature women. And we all have to follow up.

I celebrate today my one-year anniversary as a breast cancer survivor.

I had a lumpectomy one year ago and learned the cancer had been diagnosed early. A blessing.

So I wear pink today; a pink top and a pink ribbon on my jacket.

And I celebrate the joy of all other breast cancer survivors as well. For those still in treatment, I encourage you to continue on. The journey is well worth it.

Life is good.

During a holiday party, I had a chance to talk with a friend who successfully battled cancer found in her nasal passage in 2007. While she quickly pointed out that she was blessed and things could have been much worse, she wanted to know when her skin would return to its normal coloring.
It had been a month since her radiation treatment ended and her nose was darker than the rest of her beautiful brown face. I didn't really notice any difference until she pointed it out to me. Her white doctor had told her it would take about three months to return to normal skin tone.
My radiation treatment ended in March and my breast is still slightly darker than the other breast. But my expectation had been that it would take eight months or longer for the color to return. My doctor, who is of Indian descent, told me people of color are affected differently than whites.
While radiation may look like a very bad sunburn on anyone receiving treatment, darker skin takes longer to return to normal.
It's a question the medical world is catching up to now. Are African Americans or others affected differently by cancer diagnosis or treatments? Sometimes the answer is that no one knows because there haven't been enough studies in any one area. Or they weren't enough African Americans or people of color in the study to note any differences.
Headlines late last year pointed out the forumula doctors use to calculate a woman's risk of breast cancer underestimates the danger for African-American women most of the time and especially for those age 50 and older.
Assumptions have been made that the results are the same for African American women as they are for all women. We're finding out that it's not always true. And now we need to know what those differences are.

I learned I had unwittingly joined the "C" club one year ago.

I spent the holidays fretting over the surgery and radiation treatment that was to come and creating lots of "what if" scenarios.

Those first few days were so scary because of the unknowns.

But now it's just a memory and I've been able to move on to so many more things. I had lots of support and good wishers.

I was reminded of that yesterday when a colleague dropped off a breast cancer awareness ornament/pin gift to me.

It is beautiful, a silver angel with the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon around her waist. It's hanging on my tree for now but in the new year I'll be wearing it, grateful that what I went through is now just a memory.

Join the sister study, the radio announcer said this morning as I was driving in. If you've never had breast cancer but your sister has had it, join the study to help determine the effects of the disease in families.

So I checked out the link on the Black America Web. Biological sisters are needed to join the study as well as more African American women. The hope is to double the number of African American women in the study.

Here's what I learned from BAW:

The Sister Study is a nationwide effort to learn the environmental and genetic causes of breast cancer. We need 50,000 women who have never had breast cancer but whose sister has had the disease to participate. Of the 45,000 women who have joined the Sister Study so far, only 3,800 are African American. With your help, we hope to double the number of African American sisters in the Sister Study over the next few months.

If you are a woman between the ages of 35 and 74 years old
and you have never had breast cancer yourself
and you live in the U.S. or Puerto Rico
and your sister (living or deceased), related to you by blood, had breast cancer

(Don’t forget to call 1-877-4SISTER to complete the enrollment process.)

Breast cancer has deadlier results in African American women so information from the study can help save and prolong lives.

Pass it on.

I just finished the second round of follow-up visits to all my doctors who oversaw my treatment for breast cancer.
I am thrilled to say all is well.
My gynecologist found nothing.
My mammogram showed nothing.
My radiation oncologist said I was doing well.
My oncologist said I was doing well and to continue the tamoxifen regimen.
My surgeon found nothing and gave me some exercises to help improve my range of motion.
And my primary physician is happy that I've followed through and all is going well.
Life is good.

Sometimes people share stories with me that I feel I must share with you.

This was sent to me by S. White about her mother's best friend. She said I could share it with you. While I found it sad, it also made me aware of how important it is to continue to tell people early detection saves lives but only if you follow through with a course of recommended treatment.

Read on:

"I'm inspired with hope when I read your blog. Like so many families, mine has been affected by (breast cancer). My second mother, Akua Manley, passed away three years ago at age 50 of breast cancer and my mother and I honor her during this month.

As a religious woman, she didn't believe in medicinal treatments and unfortunately, her family and ours had to watch in pure sadness and while the disease took its course. When I read survival stories such as yours, it provides a sense of comfort because I know that not everyone affected loses their life, at least not without a fight.

We were so frustrated with her because she refused chemotherapy and told my mother, her best friend of 30 years, that this was God's plan and nothing could stop it. The last time I saw her, she was eerily thin, gaunt, and could barely speak above a faint whisper. All I could do was tell her how I loved her and a few weeks later, my mother was at her side as she slipped away in a hospice.

So now, we collect Breast Cancer awareness items in her honor. My mother's latest? A pink ribbon car freshener. She gives many awareness items to all eight of us and tells my brothers to give them her daughters-in-law. I see pink everywhere now, and I'm always reminded of October's arrival when Philadelphia's skyline lights and LOVE Park's fountain turn pink. "

Let's encourage every woman to fight. Doctors have the gift of healing and we have to make the choice to accept that gift

It was my annual visit to my gynecologist in October 2006 that led to the early detection of breast cancer for me.

I'd always cysts that had to be aspirated. But last year, my doctor couldn't aspirate the cyst so I had to follow up with a visit to the surgeon. The cells that were discovered showed I had breast cancer. And you know the rest.

But when I visited my gynecologist a few days ago, there were no cysts. No aspirations. It was the best visit ever, she said. Relief and continuing to feel good.