I am the Mom of a newly diagnosed breast cancer daughter, and in the process of gathering supportive materials for her, I asked a friend who has been through this to share her experience--she had come through it all with such great results and great attitude.  Her name is Jean Jorgensen (she gave me permission to share her journey), and the following is the story which I am convinced will be helpful to many folks out there who might read it.  Besides being a good story about attitude, she has some very specific suggestions of methods to add support to your regimen.  Good luck, and I hope this is useful...

January 6,2002                                                                                                                                    

Hi ­ Some of you asked me to send you "the nitty-gritty" when I got around to writing it down.   ­ Here it is.....

It¹s ten days since I had surgery and I¹d better write down my recollections of it all before they begin to get muddled!

On December 11th we returned from a month long sailing trip in the Caribbean.  I was very relaxed and probably the most "fit" that I¹ve been in 10 or 15 years. 

 The following Monday, the 17th, I went in for my annual mammogram.  The radiologist, after looking at the pictures, and having some second ones taken of my right breast, said that there was a small area that looked a little different, he didn¹t think it was cause for concern, but he¹d have a look at it in more depth with his partner.  He called me the next day and asked if I¹d come in and have an ultra sound so they could get a better look at that area.  The ultra sound, done on Wednesday, was fascinating, the technologist was terrific and worked as a team with the doc.  They showed me the questionable area and decided to do a needle biopsy on the spot, which I could also watch.  They took four samples.

The next day, Thursday, my doc called me with the word that the biopsy had come up with cancerous tissue in all of the four samples.  "OK", I said to her, "what next?"  She said that she¹d recommend having something done soon, that it doesn¹t pay to wait on these things, that I might opt for having a lumpectomy or a mastectomy, that I could have it done here or choose to go elsewhere.  I asked who she¹d recommend "elsewhere", figuring that whatever I had done I¹d like it done by someone who does a great many of these procedures.  She highly recommended a surgical oncologist in Salt Lake City. Picking her brain about her past experiences with patients with breast cancer she said that some who had chosen to have lumpectomies, followed by radiation, had later wished that they had had a mastectomy instead.  That she herself had decided that if she was confronted with making this decision for herself, she would go for the mastectomy.  I told her that whichever way I decided to go I¹d like to go with the surgeon in Salt Lake.  She would have his office call me.