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A Five-Year Cancer Survivor: 'I never thought of getting it. I think that's why it was a shock.'
A Jasonville woman will hit the five-year breast cancer survivor mark on Oct. 20, 2010.
Teana Miller found out she had breast cancer when she was 46.
"One morning I woke up and I had a lot of pain in my breast. I noticed a lump there, called the doctor and made an appointment," Miller explained. "I had a cyst in the other one (before), so I thought it was another cyst."
But, she soon found out otherwise.
"I had a mammogram and they kept taking pictures and then they came in for a sonogram and then I was scheduled for a biopsy," Miller said. "Two days later I had an appointment and they told me it was breast cancer. I go in this year -- five years to the date for an oncology appointment."
Miller's biopsy confirmed the cancer as Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC), and it took a bit for reality to sink in.
"I was surprised when they said it was breast cancer, yes I really was," she explained. "I remember being in shock ... I had no history of it in my family. I never thought of getting it. I think that's why it was a shock."
But, her positive attitude and strong support system helped her get through.
"When I got home I really cried. The next morning I didn't come to work. ... It hit me that afternoon, life goes on, but I had grief and shock time and I didn't let it get me down. I had a positive attitude, I thought 'I'm going to beat this' and I did," she said.
At that point, she decided on having a simple mastectomy.
"I just wanted it gone. I didn't want to take the chance," Miller explained. "I had my surgery on Oct. 28, there was no time to think about having the second breast removed. ... A lot of people when they find out have a double mastectomy."
She also decided against breast reconstruction surgery.
"I didn't have the reconstruction done. It doesn't bother me and I remember asking (husband) Darrell if it bothered him and it didn't," Miller explained. "The doctor said I could have it (reconstruction surgery) ... I'm not a vain person I don't think about 'Is everybody going to notice I don't have that (breast)."
After the simple mastectomy, Miller felt relieved although she still had eight rounds of chemo awaiting her.
"The first one made me a little nauseous. The doctor prescribed pills for the first four treatments," she said, adding the medicine helped with nauseousness.
Miller is very thankful for her husband's medical insurance and wonders what she would have done without it.
Chemotherapy caused Miller to lose her hair and feel foggy-minded among other side effects.
"Chemo afterwards would make me feel like electrical currents were going through my body," she said. "I didn't go anywhere. I stayed home and carried a body pillow around ..."
Her first round of chemo was followed by more.
"After the first four (treatments) I had a two or three week layoff and went back for four more," Miller said. "It was less harsh that time around."
After the last treatment, her doctor told her she had a 95.9 percent chance of never getting breast cancer again.
Currently, she still takes anti-hormone medicine and will continue taking it until the summer of 2011.
Miller now annually participates in the Susan G. Komen walk -- which was recently slated for Oct. 2, 2010.
"My team is 'Teana's Breast Friends.' There are 12 of us," she said. "It's fun to see the ladies in their 70s, I get a kick out of watching them. It's fun to go do it and to say we did our part of it this year."
Now Miller doesn't think much about her battle with breast cancer.
"I don't sit and think about it all the time. I do talk about it. I do want people to know they do need to get checked," Miller added. "I feel fortunate I did get a check now."