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I believe we all have days when we feel we are overwhelmed. We have moments that grab us by the throat and threaten to choke out our strength to endure one more callous word, one more pile of dirty laundry or break up one more fight between our kids. And then? Then we are shown what it is like to really have a fight on our hands and our laundry woes seem so petty.
This week I have been so proud to be a part of the mommyblogging community as I have seen how these moms have rallied around one of our own. (Just look at the member of the Team Why Mommy roundup! And those are only the ones who signed up there and does not take into consideration the many, many other who are are Team Why Mommy's side.)
Some of you know a fellow mom blogger by the name Susan. Others know her as Why Mommy of Toddler Planet. Most of us know her as the mom who stood up and educated us on Inflammatory Breast Cancer. She didn't choose to become the face of this disease. This disease cruelly chose her. Susan is a mom with two young children. She blogs and revels in their life together.
From the moment she shared with her readers her diagnoses, people rallied around her giving her any support she needed--whether she asked for it or not. Susan shares with us what it is like to be a mom and have IBC. Her strength, courage and openness in talking about it has been touching and heart-breaking. To read her is to love her.
This past week she underwent surgery. A double mastectomy. Though considered radical because her cancer is only in one breast, Susan felt this was the best way for her to go.
Even though the cancer is only in one breast, I have elected to have a double mastectomy instead of a single, for several reasons. The first is that we can’t be sure that there are no cancer cells in the left breast. Since I was nursing when diagnosed, the MRI was somewhat ambiguous to the first reader. The oncologist believes there was no cancer in the left breast, that it was simply increased uptake due to the active ducts, but I’ll feel better just in case. The second reason is that because of my back pain, it wouldn’t be good for me to have one large-ish breast and one flat side. It would torque my spine and be uncomfortable, particularly as time goes on. And I’d always have to wear a prosthetic breast to make them “match.” The third reason is the most important — a double mastectomy will reduce my risk of breast cancer recurrance by 15%. Now, that may be a small figure in most circumstances, but to me it’s huge. Since the risk of recurrance for inflammatory breast cancer patients is 90%, a reduction of 15% leaves me somewhere in the neighborhood of 75% recurrence risk. Much better!
I am comfortable with my decision to have a double mastectomy. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that this is the right thing to do, and the right timing to do it. I’ve had 6 months of chemo to rid the rest of my body of cancer cells and reduce the tumor burden to make the surgery possible. I have looked forward to this for so long….
As news of her surgery began to spread around the Internet, moms and other bloggers began to rally behind her in a show of support. Each time I would stumble across another blog bearing the "Bring It On" button that showed that Susan was in that blogger's thoughts, my heart was warmed. Too often we forget that there are real people behind the blogs we read. Real people with real feelings and real problems that need and appreciate our support when life gets tough.
Here are just a few of the amazing posts I came across that touched me and made me proud to see bloggers support each other in this sometimes cruel environment.
Grrrlfriend Jess at Sassafras writes:
I won't ask you to get on board with all of today's to-dos. They are my own personal missions in honor of WhyMommy and in gratitude for the life I
