How Did I Get Breast Cancer?

I think all of us who have been diagnosed wonder what triggered it and when it started. They say that DCIS takes 5-10, 10-15 or 15-20 years to develop to the point where it can be diagnosed. That's a wide range of years and who knows which one is right, but I can pinpoint events during each of those time frames that may have created enough stress to affect my immune system enough to make it incapable of fighting the cancer cells.

Fifteen to twenty years ago, my mother had 2 strokes and died of recurrent metastatic breast cancer. She had been sick since I was 15 years old with a multitude of health issues, mostly centered around her circulatory system. My role changed from daughter to pseudo-caretaker. My mother really took her sick role seriously. She stopped working. She was afraid to do anything that may stress her. However, the stress was redirected to everyone else. My father, in turn, was not used to not having his wife do everything he wanted when we wanted it. It's like taking a stable table with four legs and moving the legs around so that it wasn't quite as stable, nor did it stand up as straight anymore. The outcome of living in that environment over a period of time resulted in an uncomfortable level of anxiety and some hypochondria based out of fear of becoming sick like my mother.

Twenty years ago, my children were also in elementary school. I was working in a job I wasn't crazy about, but it afforded me a schedule that would permit me to be home with my children whenever they were out of school.

Fifteen years ago, I found a job where I could work from home. I decided to go to graduate school full-time during that period, and while the children were a little older, my role as a mom was more important than ever. The children were the easiest part of my life at that time. The overload of school and the job caused my hair to fall out of my head in clumps, resulting in 6 months of cortisone treatments to my scalp to prevent further damage. Lessons learned: I reduced the school schedule and still graduated within the time frame I had orginally planned. I also went back to work in a structured environment where I could separate home and work responsibilities when the home job contract ended.

Ten to fifteen years ago, my daughters were getting ready for college. It was a tough financial hit, but not unexpected. It was during this time that I also experienced a bad business relationship that really stressed me out.

Five to ten years ago, I was in another job where the workload was totally overwhelming, and most of us in the department were treated badly. I was the first of 23 people who left that department over the next five years to find peaceful employment elsewhere.

Add it up, and any of these events could have thrown my body over the edge. Include a dash of family genetics, bad eating habits, and erratic exercise. Is it any wonder that I developed breast cancer? How many times do you have to get hit on the head to know that you have made bad choices?