I was properly diagnosed at age 25 with Stage 2A ER/PR + HER2 – Breast Cancer in March of 2017 AFTER years of getting misdiagnosed.
I started noticing things were wrong with my body at the young age of 19. I raised my concerns with my family and they told me it was all in my head because I was a freshman at college and was under a lot of pressure from school. So I let it go, this was my first mistake.
Then years go by and just when I was starting to enjoy college life at age 21, I was constantly feeling fatigued no matter how much I rested. I was getting bruises without bumping into things or fainting out of nowhere. And I would get massive headaches and nausea after just one glass of wine or less. So I finally went to the doctors for general checkups but the results show I was as healthy as any young 20 years old. So I requested for a mammogram but due to my young age and non-existent family history of cancer, the doctor denied my request. This was my second mistake, I should’ve insisted on having further checkups.
Things got worst from here on. In the following years, I would experience constant light-headedness and the fatigue feeling never went away. When I was 23, my family and I went on a hiking trip where I woke up from sleep at 3 am with an unbearable pain in my chest that was causing trouble breathing then I blacked out. When I regained my consciousness, I was on the bathroom floor, facing down. I knew my face had hit the floor from the pain but my head was so cloudy, I couldn’t really register what was happening especially because my eyes were foggy. Thank Goodness, the hotel we were staying at had oxygen tanks that allowed me to breathe better. I went to the hospital immediately after this incident. They had my heart and head tested and they both passed with flying colors. So no one could really tell me what caused the blackout, they could only make assumptions. One doctor even recommended me to see a psychiatrist.
With the relief of good news and excitement of college graduation, I entered the real world. I applied for jobs, looked for apartments, and moved to NYC from LA to start a new chapter of my life. Just when I thought my future was bright and promising, my whole world came crashing down. In December of 2017, less than one month after my 25th birthday, I saw it. There were bloodstains on my bra, on the towel, and on my chest – I was paralyzed. I initially googled to see what this could be but ultimately ruled out the potential of breast cancer because I just had an ultrasound so I decided to wait it out.
Weeks later, I went on a day trip to Boston with my friends. We were there to meet up with another friend and no one knew where we were but I immediately recognized the area and said, “Beacon Hill”. Everyone was shocked because the last time I was in Boston was over 10 years ago so how could I know the neighborhood we were in? Then I remembered it was from one of my favorite tv shows at the time, Chasing Life. I explained the show to my friends about a 24-year-old character with no family history of cancer got leukemia out of the blue and didn’t even believe it herself…then it hit me like a ton of bricks…
I immediately rushed to the ER after we got back to NYC and to my surprise, the doctor completely dismissed my concerns. She told me it was probably caused by me drinking too much or partying too hard when I barely drink nor ever go out, and then she asked me if I had used nipple clamps so I pulled out my phone and googled, “what the f*ck are nipple clamps”?
So naturally, I had to get a second opinion. This went on for weeks because my insurance company was being horrible. Luckily, I found a hospital that would allow me to take all the checkups I needed. First was the ultrasound, it showed I had micro-calcifications. The second was the mammogram, it showed multiple calcifications that had a high rate of being cancerous. The third was a biopsy to determine the final result. I got the final result on February 27th, 2017. The doctor called me and told me I had stage 0 DCIS breast cancer and am in need of immediate surgery.
Because most of my family members lives in Taiwan, I got on the plane and flew home to Taipei City the very next day. My family had already arranged appointments for me. So I went straight to the memorial hospital upon arrival and the doctor there confirmed that I was actually in stage 1 not stage 0. I was so confused so I immediately went to another hospital to get another opinion and this doctor confirmed that I was in stage 1 as well.
***Stage 0 and stage 1 may sound like it is not a big difference but it is especially when the chances of survival rate go down.
Both doctors in Taiwan confirmed I have been having breast cancer for at least 5 years now so it most likely developed when I was 18 or 19. I was so upset that I went back to the original hospital with the horrible nurse that had given me the ultrasound years ago and told me nothing was wrong. I went there demanding an answer but they denied the whole thing. They never gave me pictures of the ultrasound nor the report so I didn’t have any proof. From then on, I always ask for paper copy reports after each checkups.
I was initially told I would only need to get a unilateral mastectomy and then they will immediately put the implant in so when I wake up, I won’t notice any difference. This is a major issue due to many women being traumatized from seeing missing breast(s) when they wake up from anesthesia so my surgeon ensured me that this will not happen to me. I was also told I wouldn’t need chemo nor radiation therapies since I was only in stage 1. So I thought after the unilateral mastectomy, this nightmare would be over. I would wake up with a new breast just like the old one and no one will know and I can just go about my day. But I was wrong….
After the surgery, I woke up and the only thing I can think of is my chest so I immediately sat up to look and it was covered in a medical wrap. so I started padding down and then I felt the dent and broke down crying. my surgeon then told me during surgery, they found the cancer cells had spread to my lymph nodes so I am officially in stage 2.
I was officially diagnosed with Stage 2A ER/PR + HER2 – Breast Cancer. Then came the most excruciating 7 months of my life – 8 rounds of chemotherapy and 25 rounds of radiation therapy. Because of the chemo, I lost my hair; because of the radiation, I lost my skin; and because of cancer, I lost my light.
It took me a lot of time, 3 years to be exact, to finally accept what has happened and to be comfortable in my skin. They say when battling cancer, the real battle comes AFTER the treatments. It’s the decisions we make in the future, especially within the first 5 years post-treatment, that determine our chances of survival. So this blog is my post-cancer journey.
