Coping With 乳腺癌 That Spans Three Generations

Today, Morse is cancer-free – and living up to her promise.

You were diagnosed with 乳腺癌 at age 59. 你有家族史吗?

My mother and her mother died from 乳腺癌. I was 14 when my mom was diagnosed as terminal, and 21 when she died. By the time I was an adult, I was really spooked about it. I always faced 乳腺癌 with fear and dread.

你是怎么发现自己得了癌症的?

I went in for my regular annual exam with my gynecologist. She did a breast exam and said, "I feel something here.“她问我是否能感觉到，我感觉不到. 我的心都要跳出来了. She said, "Can you go down the hall and have a mammogram?“我做了，但是乳房x光检查什么也没显示.

那天晚上在家里我接到了一个电话. 当时是8点20分，是我的十大赌博平台排行榜. 她说:“我无法停止想你. 我肯定我感觉到了什么. Will you please come in and have an ultrasound?“我吓得浑身发抖. Sure enough, there was a tumor – way in the back – that hadn't shown up on the mammogram. 她抓住了.

I wrote her a letter on the 10th anniversary of my cancer diagnosis, saying thank you for being diligent and for doing your job. 她的直觉是正确的. 我很感激.

接下来发生了什么??

他们做了穿刺活检，结果是恶性的. 我吓坏了. 我哭了. 我确信我要完蛋了. I was flooded with all my memories of my mother, whose cancer went to the other breast within a year.

你是怎么应付的??

我看到了黛博拉·哈莫斯基, a nurse at UCSF who provides emotional support for 乳腺癌 patients like me. I walked in with slumped shoulders and a downer attitude. 我拿出了应对的工具. And she taught me to arm myself with as much knowledge as I can.

我还通过加州大学旧金山分校加入了一个互助小组 癌症病人及家属支援中心. I got tremendous support from talking with other women who had been through cancer. It's different from talking to your sister or your best friend who haven't heard those words, "你得了癌症." Talking to people who have been there gave me new hope and a beacon of light.

你的乳腺癌是怎么治疗的?

我只有一个乳房得了癌症, but because my mom's cancer spread so quickly to the other breast – and I had so much fear about that – I wanted a double mastectomy, 哪种是最积极的治疗方法.

所以你做到了?

是的. I went ahead with it and have never regretted it. I didn't have to have chemotherapy, but I did take two drugs that interfere with estrogen levels. Five years of popping tamoxifen followed by another five of letrozole, 也是一种药丸, seemed a small price to pay to hear "You're just fine."

你现在是加州大学旧金山分校的志愿者 同侪支援计划, and you talk to newly diagnosed 乳腺癌 patients.

是的. 我可以和任何需要帮助的人交谈. Some women want to know what it's like to have a mastectomy and I have no problem showing off my 13-year-old-boy chest. One woman said, "I am shocked you did that, but I'm so glad you did."

You seem pretty happy about your decision to have the double mastectomy.

哦,是的! 它确实有它的好处. If I buy a jacket and it doesn't fit around the middle, I don't wear a bra. If I want to look like Dolly Parton, I put on my Dolly Parton bra!

You weren't interested in breast reconstructive surgery?

No. I've been married to the same guy for a billion years. 他只想要我活着. He encouraged me to do whatever I wanted, and I didn't see any reason for it.

我看起来很好! 没有任何疤痕. I'd like to be the poster girl for a good mastectomy. 真的!

手术那天你感觉如何?

I don't live far from UCSF's Mount Zion campus, so I walked to my mastectomy holding hands with my husband and three kids. 那是早上五点半，天已经黑了. 那天我从未感到孤独.

而且你没有癌症?

是的! But if you can believe it, I had a spot on my lung two years after my breast surgery. 我想，“我现在完蛋了." They took this blob out, and it was not malignant. But the same day that I had my lung surgery, my husband got the results of his routine PSA test. 他得了前列腺癌.

他还好吗??

他做了根治性前列腺切除术. 人们问我们:“你们的性生活怎么样??" and we say, "Well, we're missing a lot of our body parts!“但他现在也戒了. 我们是幸运的人.

Besides the 同侪支援计划, you do other volunteer work at the hospital.

On Tuesdays I don my volunteer blue vest and serve lunches to patients at the Ida Friend输液中心. I can also be found escorting people to appointments and answering questions in the lobby at Mount Zion and the Cancer Center.

When you're serving lunch, what do you talk about?

我说:“你猜怎么着，我也经历过你的处境." I've met a lot of fabulous people by volunteering. And my husband and I have been treated extremely well.

为什么志愿活动对你很重要?

I promised if I could get out of this mess, I would give back. 我就在这里!