Of Course I Remember the Date of My Mastectomy

To most of the world, the day I had a mastectomy was just another day. But to me, it was the start of so many changes in my life.

BY Barbara Carlos

PUBLISHED March 09, 2018

In July 2011 Barbara Carlos was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. A resident of Hawaii, she works in administrative support at a college and has retirement as her career goal. Music keeps her sane, as side effects of chemo and radiation linger. Overweight since childhood, she keeps trying to lose the estrogen-laden fat that her cancer loves.

When recently speaking with a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient, in the course of our conversation she innocently asked me when I had had my mastectomy. I knew from the tone of the conversation that the answer she was looking for was something along the lines of how long ago. After all, we were talking about diagnosis, treatments and side effects. I could tell she wanted a yardstick to measure where I was and where she was in the journey. Yes, I knew she had a time frame in mind. Instead, I purposely gave her the exact date. She was surprised and showed it. She even asked me how I could remember exactly when it was done. I explained, as best as I could, that it was a day like no other, a turning point, or at least the start of a large turn in my life. It was a day I could never go back and undo, a day that brought so much change into my world and continues to do just that, even now.

I don't know if my explanation was clear. I hope it was. I know she is facing a lumpectomy in another week. I didn't mean to scare her, but cancer is scary, especially in the beginning. She brought up the scariness factor several times in the course of our conversation, and I agreed with her.

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