When the Road turns Rough in Peru,Indiana

I remember so well my trip to the Doctor in l984 for my yearly check-up. The Doctor said I should have a mammogram as my mother had recently had breast cancer. He sent me to Kokomo. I went for that test, confident that everything would be fine as I couldn't detect any lumps and I had no discomfort. I had the test, the nurse told me to get dressed that I was finished. I dressed and left the hospital. I just got outside the door when the nurse came after me and said, "We want you to take your X-rays back to your Doctor. I had a sinking feeling. I somehow knew that I was in trouble. I saw my family Doctor and he sent me to a surgeon. I entered the hospital, they did a biopsy and it was positive. I had a Mascectomy in February of that year. I knew no one that I could sit down with and really talk about that dreaded disease. At that time most women did not talk about "shh, breast cancer. In 1998 I had a reoccurance of the cancer in the scar from the first surgery. This time I had 35 radiation treatments. In the years between 1998 and 2003 we had eight women in our church with different kinds of cancer and they were beginning to talk about it. Our Pastors wife, Marty, our dear friend, Pat, and I decided it was time to begin a support group in our church. We needed the support of each other. We needed to talk about our fears of more cancer and our joys when the tests were good. Within a year we lost two of our members, a dear sweet lady, Vera, and our dear bubbly, positive Pat. She was our inspiration. We are still meeting once a month on the second Saturday of the month at the Presbyterian Church.