Vicki in Maryland wrote . . . > (snip) But it (breast cancer) isn't a death sentence . . .
I'm here to say, "IT IS SURVIVABLE !" I had breast cancer in my late thirties, and it was already advanced - due to my useless immune system, it moved very fast. This was nearly twenty years ago, so there weren't the tests and treatments available now, and I over-reacted to Tamoxifen so badly that it couldn't be given to me - BUT I SURVIVED! So PLEASE - whatever - whenever - you find a lump, don't wait to think about it. Just start seeing the doctors. For me, the hardest thing of all was telling my friends and family: my advice is, don't wait to tell them - don't wait to do anything else at all - absolutely anything else can be caught up with later. Due to my aforesaid useless immune system, I've also had cervical cancer which had also advanced superfast - and I'm clear of that too. So surviving can be achieved, but you really must take an active part in putting your own surviving at the very top of your priority list, and doing every single thing you can think of to keep it there. Don't allow yourself to make excuses about 'not wanting to be selfish' (or any other excuse): your family and friends won't see it that way. How would you answer someone in your position who said that to you? Anyone who feels differently will edge away and look after themselves without your needing to help them. (They can go join those invincibly ignorant people who treat you as though you're infectious.) Allow yourself to get *angry*, and to *stay angry* - it's your best weapon, so keep on using it. Sorry for all the capitals - but I think this message is really important. Linda Walton, (in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K., where, like . . . > > Vicki in Maryland where the weather in appropriate for St. Patrick's > day.....a "soft" day as they would say in Ireland....and an abundence of "liquid > sunshine" > . . . we've got so much fog, I can't see the bottom of the garden, earlier in the week was very sunny and warm, and last Friday we were so deep in snow that I couldn't go out). To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
