I never thought I'd be a breast cancer patient
By Tucson Medical Center
·
11/20/2020
‘I never thought I’d be a breast cancer patient’
Catherine Katz did everything right when it came to her health.
She was at a healthy weight. She ate right. She didn’t drink or smoke. She went to Pilates three times a week.
So when the results from her breast biopsy came back positive for cancer, she was in disbelief.
As a sales representative for a company that makes tests that help decide on treatment options for breast cancer patients, it never occurred to her that she may need that test one day.
“I always thought I’d get a pass on breast cancer,” she said. “I never considered I’d actually be one of these patients.”
After having a lumpectomy, pathology reports showed there were not clean margins, meaning the surrounding tissue also had cancer cells. Her surgeon recommended a mastectomy.
“So I did. I had a bilateral mastectomy,” she said. “My right breast was not cancerous, but I opted for the bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction.”
Overcoming anger
Anger was her most obvious emotional response.
“I was like no way this is happening. I was going through all the reasons it shouldn’t be me and I don’t fit the breast cancer picture at all,” she said. “I did everything right. I followed the rules. And I was in the field talking about this every day. It took a long while to wrap my head around the fact that I could possibly be one in eight (the rate at which women are diagnosed with breast cancer). I knew the statistics but never thought it would be me.”
Once she started confiding in Karen Narum, a nurse practitioner with the TMCOne High Risk Breast Clinic, and Mary Verplank, nurse navigator, she was able to find solace. Her breast surgeon, medical oncologist and breast reconstructive plastic surgeon helped her find the strength and confidence she needed and gave her hope for a return to her “normal life.”
“I received excellent and genuine care, concern and empathy from them,” Katz said. “I stopped feeling sorry for myself after a few weeks. I had a job to do, and I felt like I had to be a good participant because my team was giving me their all. I had to give my all and participate in this battle. I was gonna win and come out OK.”
“Finding out you have breast cancer, and getting a mastectomy can be difficult to process emotionally,” Narum said. “It’s so important to find somebody you can talk to and confide in. That can be a friend, health care provider, support group or anyone you feel comfortable talking to.”
Katz said she also started thinking of all the people she might help, through her work and her experience with breast cancer.
“I kept thinking I know I can help some day,” she recalled.
Loving messages from friends
During her treatment and recovery, Katz said the best thing friends could do is reach out.
“Call. Acknowledge it,” she advised. “The patient isn’t calling friends to say ‘hello I just want to let you know I have breast cancer.’ I so appreciated my friends even from a distance who called or texted and said, ‘I heard you’re not doing well. I’m here for you. This sucks. Call me anytime. Love you.’ Those kinds of messages. That’s all that’s required.”
It’s been about a year now, and Katz is working, exercising and living a healthy life.
Advice for newly-diagnosed patients
She offers the following advice to anyone diagnosed with breast cancer:
- Ask questions of your providers.
- Reduce unnecessary websites to seek advice. Only seek out websites that are credible or that are recommended by your health care providers. You can scare yourself to death by going to blogs.
- Rely on others. Trust is the biggest thing I had to enact. I’m not a trustful person. I’m very much in control of my own life. I had to rely on others for the first time in my life.
- If you feel something is not right with your breasts, ask your doctor about a referral to the High Risk Breast Clinic.
