Stats Mean Something, Just Not Everything

I haven’t read a post about breast cancer that has resonated with me like this one: How statistics guided me through life, death and ‘The Price Is Right’.  It’s funny and is filled with truth of what a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent myriad of decision making looks like.

Based on pure stats, I should have never been diagnosed with breast cancer. I have a healthy diet. I am a lifelong runner. I have a low BMI. I breastfed (albeit, not long). I never did drugs. I’m careful about anything I put in my body. I avoid pesticides. I started my periods late (meaning lower estrogen load). I am an extremely moderate drinker (I know…don’t let facebook posts fool you!).  I have a happy disposition and I blahblahblah. Doesn’t matter, does it. We know breast cancer can still happen despite the stats; I’m living proof.

In my first doc appointment after diagnosis, I got the best advice to start me on a road I never thought I’d take: Don’t let anyone tell you why you have breast cancer. If the top researchers in the world don’t know, the Internet doesn’t either. I couldn’t have gotten a stronger, more reassuring start to balance those who thought they knew exactly why I was diagnosed.

Long ago, one of my docs dubbed me a 1% when it comes to my medical history. I am a regular, but not always, outlier when observing the bell curve of statistics. Some times that means when given a drug, I fall in the end of experiencing the lesser experienced side-effects. Yay, me!

Since that dubbing, I have practiced a lifelong policy of rarely using prescriptions or OTCs.  I thought I was doing myself a favor, by being extra careful. But, it didn’t matter when it came to breast cancer. Based on my health habits and medical history, my risk this year was/is .09%.  My docs, without exception, were shocked that I indeed had (no sign of it anymore!) breast cancer with such low odds, but it happens and no one knows why.

.09%, y’all. GOSH, breast cancer…why you gotta be so mean!

Elisa Long’s article had me laughing and crying in all the YESES! Her experience of getting bad bad news (triple negative breast cancer), was then buoyed by beating the stats for achieving PCR (pathological complete response). For me, the upside of being diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer (including Her2, which is not as aggressive as a triple-negative, but right up there), was that I too, fell into the lower odds of achieving PCR, which, if achieved, would up my odds for survival and lower my risk of recurrence significantly. It’s a response all oncologists pray for, but mine was forthcoming in saying that the odds weren’t in my favor.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Oh, hai. Prior to surgery, my surgeon and oncologist believed I. ACHIEVED. PCR! After surgery, it was confirmed in the final pathology. I beat the odds again. This time it felt like I won the Power Ball lottery…cause in the world of medical stats, I did.

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