I asked my co-worker Hershel if he would have his mother write a story about her battle with breast cancer. Thank you for sharing your story Gail.
Gail's Story:
Breast cancer killed my mother, so I always kept up with mammograms and self checks. Then I got busy, my home life was up and down and work was busy all the time. It had been well over a year since my last mammogram.
I know most of the people who come into my small retail pharmacy, some better than others. One afternoon a regular customer, one a didn’t know too well, came in with her husband. She began talking with my partner and somehow their conversation got to, “when was your last mammogram?” Just like me, my partner kept putting off making an appointment.
Soon I was pulled into the questioning, when our customer learned that we had both gone over a year, she became adamant that we both make an appointment that very day. She related how a mammogram had saved her life. My partner took the advise and was fine.
I was a bit uncomfortable about being lectured, and put off making an appointment. although I did begin self examinations again, and found a lump. With my partner’s nagging and my memories of my mother’s cancer I went for a mammogram. Strange but when they wanted me to stay for another test I said I’d come back, I had to go to work. Reason prevailed and I stayed for an ultrasound.
After that it was a roller coaster: find a surgeon; have a biopsy; choose total or lump; pick a hospital; choose an oncologist: decide on treatment plan; two rounds of chemo; radiation. Throughout this I worked full time.
Everyday I bless the customer who bullied me into testing and I try to pass it along by bullying others when I can......it’s a legacy.
I am an eight year survivor.
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