MichaelM
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2014
- Messages
- 631
- Reaction score
- 0
I've been mostly absent here on BoB for most of the year and I want to check in and explain why. I also want to tell this story as a cautionary tale and hopefully raise some awareness for all my Brothers of the Briar.
Right after the new year I developed some pain in my left chest. It felt like I had pulled a muscle and I just expected it to go away in time. After about a week it was still present and quite annoying. I was mindlessly massaging the area one evening and I had one of those panicked “ut oh” moments because I felt something that was not supposed to be there, a small hard lump of something.
I went to the doctor the next day, and he said it was possibly serious and ordered xrays and scans. Two days later I was told I had a “suspicious mass” that was “likely cancer.” On Jan 19th I had the mass removed in a minor outpatient procedure. They also took a fair amount of surrounding tissue (I've got plenty) and local lymph nodes. Two weeks later I got the diagnosis: male breast cancer!
The good news: the mass was small, and caught very early, and there was no evidence that it had spread to other tissue or the nodes. Odds are I am 100% cured.
The less good news: the tumor was Her2+ which means it was aggressive. Therefor, if I'm only 99.9% cured there is about a 20% chance of recurrence over the next 15-20 years with no way to know where in the body that it will recur.
The very good news: There is a targeted chemotherapy that will reduce that 20% chance to less than 2%. It's a “no brainer.” I started chemo 2 weeks ago.
So far it's going really well. I get an infusion every 3 weeks and this will happen 6 times. The first week after was kind of awful but really not much worse than a bad flu, and this week I feel normal with the exception of my hair starting to shed. I'm going to the barber tomorrow for a buzz cut. Next Friday I get infusion #2 and so on. All in all, I feel very blessed and know that there are many people fighting march harder against greater odds.
Those of you that know me know that I'm a private (aka shy) sort of guy that does not like talking about this sort of stuff or drawing attention to myself. I'm not writing this to ask for support or prayer (although prayers are always welcome) but to ask you all to please think about male breast cancer. I knew it was possible, but never really gave it much thought. I certainly didn't check for lumps! It is very rare with only 2000 cases per year. The problem is that guys usually don't notice until it is too late. My doctors (and I have about 5 now) all told me that the pain I was experiencing could not have been caused by the tumor. I probably did pull a muscle and just got really lucky! Another 6 or 12 months and I could be looking at a very grim diagnosis. I know it's not comfortable to talk about it guys, but you have to get over that. Learn how to examine yourself, and talk to your brothers, sons, friends and get them to do the same. It could literally be a matter of life and death!
To make this pipe related, I have not been smoking much at all. The chemo kind of screwed up my sense of taste, and that takes all the fun out of it. But I will be back to pipes when this is done. Given the rarity of this type of cancer, there is no way that smoking had anything to do with it. But at the same time I have to admit that smoking does stress the system in ways that wont exactly make chemo any easier so I'm kind of glad my taste went out the window.
That's about it. I'll put my soapbox away, but you all have to go and learn how to check yourself or I'll have to get it back out again
Be well,
Mike.
Right after the new year I developed some pain in my left chest. It felt like I had pulled a muscle and I just expected it to go away in time. After about a week it was still present and quite annoying. I was mindlessly massaging the area one evening and I had one of those panicked “ut oh” moments because I felt something that was not supposed to be there, a small hard lump of something.
I went to the doctor the next day, and he said it was possibly serious and ordered xrays and scans. Two days later I was told I had a “suspicious mass” that was “likely cancer.” On Jan 19th I had the mass removed in a minor outpatient procedure. They also took a fair amount of surrounding tissue (I've got plenty) and local lymph nodes. Two weeks later I got the diagnosis: male breast cancer!
The good news: the mass was small, and caught very early, and there was no evidence that it had spread to other tissue or the nodes. Odds are I am 100% cured.
The less good news: the tumor was Her2+ which means it was aggressive. Therefor, if I'm only 99.9% cured there is about a 20% chance of recurrence over the next 15-20 years with no way to know where in the body that it will recur.
The very good news: There is a targeted chemotherapy that will reduce that 20% chance to less than 2%. It's a “no brainer.” I started chemo 2 weeks ago.
So far it's going really well. I get an infusion every 3 weeks and this will happen 6 times. The first week after was kind of awful but really not much worse than a bad flu, and this week I feel normal with the exception of my hair starting to shed. I'm going to the barber tomorrow for a buzz cut. Next Friday I get infusion #2 and so on. All in all, I feel very blessed and know that there are many people fighting march harder against greater odds.
Those of you that know me know that I'm a private (aka shy) sort of guy that does not like talking about this sort of stuff or drawing attention to myself. I'm not writing this to ask for support or prayer (although prayers are always welcome) but to ask you all to please think about male breast cancer. I knew it was possible, but never really gave it much thought. I certainly didn't check for lumps! It is very rare with only 2000 cases per year. The problem is that guys usually don't notice until it is too late. My doctors (and I have about 5 now) all told me that the pain I was experiencing could not have been caused by the tumor. I probably did pull a muscle and just got really lucky! Another 6 or 12 months and I could be looking at a very grim diagnosis. I know it's not comfortable to talk about it guys, but you have to get over that. Learn how to examine yourself, and talk to your brothers, sons, friends and get them to do the same. It could literally be a matter of life and death!
To make this pipe related, I have not been smoking much at all. The chemo kind of screwed up my sense of taste, and that takes all the fun out of it. But I will be back to pipes when this is done. Given the rarity of this type of cancer, there is no way that smoking had anything to do with it. But at the same time I have to admit that smoking does stress the system in ways that wont exactly make chemo any easier so I'm kind of glad my taste went out the window.
That's about it. I'll put my soapbox away, but you all have to go and learn how to check yourself or I'll have to get it back out again
Be well,
Mike.