My mom used to tell me I just wanted to be different. She had a way of using it against me.
It was a problem.
I wish she was still alive. I would say: “Hey, Mom, look at this! I really AM different!”
On Thursday afternoon I found out that I have a rare type of breast cancer called Intracystic Papillary Carcinoma (IPC), which occurs in postmenopausal women.
Otherwise known, perhaps, as Strange Old Lady Breast Cancer?
Since finding out that I have this, my mind has been spinning and my stomach has been churning. Thank God for anti-anxiety prescriptions! Thank God for many other things as well: good friends; good sisters; beer; and the Affordable Care Act, through which I actually have health insurance right now that can cover the expenses related to this cancer.
The type of breast cancer I have constitutes only 0.5% to 1% of all breast cancers.
Rare indeed. Now I’m wondering if the Montana doctors I will be turning to have enough experience in dealing with this type of cancer.
The good news is that it sounds like IPC is not as bad as some types of breast cancer, in terms of spreading. Also, the recovery rates look good.
The other good news: I caught this thing early, thanks to a yearly digital mammogram.
Get your mammograms, ladies! If you don’t like the person who does your mammograms, find someone you like better… but do what you have to do to get in there for that mammogram every year!
It was a problem.
I wish she was still alive. I would say: “Hey, Mom, look at this! I really AM different!”
On Thursday afternoon I found out that I have a rare type of breast cancer called Intracystic Papillary Carcinoma (IPC), which occurs in postmenopausal women.
Otherwise known, perhaps, as Strange Old Lady Breast Cancer?
Since finding out that I have this, my mind has been spinning and my stomach has been churning. Thank God for anti-anxiety prescriptions! Thank God for many other things as well: good friends; good sisters; beer; and the Affordable Care Act, through which I actually have health insurance right now that can cover the expenses related to this cancer.
The type of breast cancer I have constitutes only 0.5% to 1% of all breast cancers.
Rare indeed. Now I’m wondering if the Montana doctors I will be turning to have enough experience in dealing with this type of cancer.
The good news is that it sounds like IPC is not as bad as some types of breast cancer, in terms of spreading. Also, the recovery rates look good.
The other good news: I caught this thing early, thanks to a yearly digital mammogram.
Get your mammograms, ladies! If you don’t like the person who does your mammograms, find someone you like better… but do what you have to do to get in there for that mammogram every year!