Unless you've been there with a close relative (my sister-in-law)
who had two young children (ages 3 an 5 at diagnosis of Stage III
breast cancer with 24 out of 25 positive lymph nodes) who was
trying valiantly to stay alive to raise her children, you can't
possibly know how you'd react.

My late sister-in-law did discontinuied breastfeeding after 10 days
due to excrutiating pain.  She had trained for the heptathalon so
she was not a wimp in her sporting life.  Her oldest, a son,
refused that breast completely as a newborn infant.  She did not
try to breastfed the second child, a daughter, due to remembering
the pain.

She would not see the IBCLC for whom I gave her a gift certificate.
Had she seen her, she probably would have been sent for an early
mammogram.

As it was, after the first breast was removed and implanted, the
second was diagnosed with a new primary type tumor (not estrogen
positive) after taking tamoxifen and having both chemo and
radiation.

She then chose an alternative treatment with the second diagnosis
being 10 out of 15 positive lymph nodes.  We were with her when
the surgeon told her.

She lived six years and her children were 9 and 11 when she died.
She lived twice as long as doctors' expected by sheer will.  She
still walked her children to school with the pain of advanced bone
cancer.

After the second diagnosis she said she would have gladly given
both her breasts early in the game had she known the price to pay
in the near future.  But there was so much optimism that she could
save her "breasts" and keep her figure.  She was really surprised
the external pair of prostheses were so comfortable to wear.  She
said it was a great improvement on the constant pressure of her
initial implant until she had it removed for evenness and balance.

Trying to support her emotionally and spiritually for those six
years she survived taught me how superficial it is to try to keep
these organs if they are diseased.  One female physician who said
she'd wish to be as far away from her breasts if they were
cancerous, rings true.

Judy Ritchie

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