A Simplified and Sometimes Sassy Guide to Breast Cancer: Like if Your Best Friend was a Breast Surgeon

I was introduced to breast cancer at a very young age. My grandmother was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer at age fifty while living in Alaska. In order to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy and enroll in clinical trials, she lived with my family in Southern California. My clearest memories of my grandma “mee-mee” were of her wearing headscarves and face masks. My father was in the Navy, and I grew up moving around the United States, gifted with the experience of meeting people from all walks of life. My mother was an elementary school teacher, and I spent hours tutoring and learning the value of thoughtful and clear communication. I went on to graduate college with degrees in Biochemistry and English with honors. My English honors thesis focused on the metaphors that breast cancer survivors used in their memoirs to understand and cope with their cancer diagnosis, their treatments, and the side effects. In preparation, I read every breast cancer memoir that I could find. I then completed medical school, general surgery residency, two years in a basic science research laboratory, and breast surgery fellowship with the goal of focusing on the treatment of women with breast cancer. My mother still talks about how wonderful my grandmother’s doctors were. I grew up listening to just how important the relationship is between a woman and her doctor; and how, sometimes, that makes all the difference. I will always aim to be the little ray of sunshine in an otherwise stormy journey through breast cancer.