Charlene Stepherson
Survivor
My Story, My Journey, My Testimony
My Story, My Journey, My Testimony! Ask and ye shall receive! Well first let me just say that I’m a child of God! I’m a wife, mom and breast cancer Survivor! 2x Survivor! I asked God to use me as He saw fit, but little did I know how He would choose to use me!
My journey began on February 1, 2013, two weeks before my 43rd birthday. I would be give the news no one want to hear. I’m sorry Mrs. Stepherson you have breast cancer! It all started with a routine mammogram, which led to a biopsy of the left breast. It didn’t take long for the results to come back, in fact it was all of 24 hours. My diagnosis was DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ). I was ER/PR positive (estrogen and progesterone receptive cancer). I was told that I had the “good kind of breast cancer” that if I was going to have breast cancer this was the type to have. Sorry ma’am I don’t agree! I don’t see this as a good thing!
February 1, 2013 will forever be engrained in my memory! My breast surgeon was an absolute gem and holds a very special place in my heart. Strange, yet true. Because my diagnosis was so early, stage 0, I had a few options as far as treatments go. I had the option of lumpectomy with radiation therapy or mastectomy of the left breast (that’s where my cancer was). Given my family history (mom is a 2x survivor as well), I decided on the mastectomy. And to be quite honest I couldn’t face having radiation, for some reason it scared the crap out of me. At the time I only wanted to have the single mastectomy, I thought I would hold on to my one “good” boob, so I thought.
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On April 1st, 2013 I underwent my mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, TRAM flap. Almost immediately afterwards I would regret not having done a bilateral mastectomy. I felt that something just wasn’t right. I would soon realize why. So with my supposedly “good” right boob I decided to have breast reduction, which most likely saved my life. Unbeknownst to me cancer was lurking around in my right breast. Thank God my plastic surgeon sent my breast tissue to pathology, which determined that I had DCIS triple negative breast cancer in my right breast. So 20 days later I said goodbye to my perky new boob only to be replace by a new foob (fake boob).
On September 12, 2013 I had my 2nd mastectomy with immediate reconstruction, LAT flap this time. A few tweaks and a couple of implants later I am now cancer free! You have to Fight through some bad days to earn some of the Best Days of Your Life… Fight for Your Life! Peace and Blessings Charlene S. Pinkandtwisted@gmail.com