Young Women

I know it's pointless and a little torturous, but I have to wonder sometimes, "Why me?  The American Cancer Society estimates that 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2012. The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer sometime during her life is a little less than 1 in 8.  If you told me there was a good chance I'd develop breast cancer as a grandmother, I wouldn't be that shocked.  As a 39 year old mother of two children under four years of age - not so much. In the United States, only about 5% of all breast cancer cases occur in women under age 40.  I don't smoke, drink excessively, or have a family history of any kind of cancer.  I'd hardly consider myself an athlete, but I like to run, try to work out on a regular basis, and have what I consider to be a healthy body weight. My average run on the weekend is 7 miles, our family, in general, likes to spend a lot of time outdoors, I breastfed both my children, and I don't paint my nails for fear of all the unregulated toxins in nail polish. Alright, I don't have the best diet - I have a terrible sweet tooth, and probably don't eat enough fruits and vegetables - but doesn't that describe the majority of people?

The funny and selfishly comforting thing is, I do seem to be hearing about a lot of other young women with breast cancer, both online and from friends that know someone who has been affected.  Just recently I discovered a woman at my son's preschool, which has a population of maybe 125 kids, had breast cancer six months ago.  Our sons are the same age and it has been so inspiring to hear her story.  There is even a foundation in my area called the Tigerlily Foundation that focuses on young women (ages 15-40) with breast cancer, as well as young member support groups put on by Life with Cancer. I haven't taken advantage of any of these resources yet, but I hope to overcome my shyness and do so soon.

When I first learned about my cancer I was obsessed with reading blogs like Jacki Donaldson and Jayne England Byrne because it's real people that tell you all the stuff you really want to know.  I have Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book on my must read list, but is she going to tell me where to get the best "underhair"?  I don't think so. I struggled a lot with whether to create a blog about this whole experience and whether to make it public.  I consider myself a very private person and my first thought was to just write it for me, to chronicle the whole experience and for the sheer therapeutic value of journaling. I changed my mind for two reasons.  First, it's an easy way for friends and family to check in on what's going on, without my having to write or call individually with repetitive updates. Plus, people can read as much or as little as they feel comfortable with. Second, I'm leaving it open to the public and keeping the lame-ass title "Michelle's Breast Cancer Blog" so perfect strangers going through the same ordeal can find it easily and hopefully get some degree of comfort, or information, or reassurance, similar to what I took away from my fave bloggers listed above.  I know nothing about writing a blog and don't have the time to make it as pretty, witty, and well-written as I'd like for public consumption, but hopefully I'll improve as I go along.