Huntsville High Class of 1976

We all have a story, something that makes us who we are. Some have poems, short stories, mini series, or even novel dissertations. My story is a three part epoch. I thought my story revolved round the fact that I’m an identical twin, but that was only part of my story. Let me tell you my whole story.

 

My first epoch started on Christmas day back in 1957 with my mom going into labor. A few hours later, she gave birth to identical twin girls. She named one Cristy and the other Cathy. Luckily my sister and I weren’t Christmas babies, mom held out until after midnight. We were born on December 26. If you’ve already begun calculating, that makes me 47 years young.

 

I thought being an identical twin was great! Cristy and I shared everything from clothes and shoes to ideals and dreams. We were as close as a married couple in some ways. We went from elementary school all the way through high school then graduate school in Nursing at UAH. Also, we both had two children, she had girls and I had boys.

 

Things were going pretty good, we lived leisurely from day to day. We even managed to move to the same neighborhood, living only one street apart. That was fun and sometimes funny at times. The confusion we gave to the door to door salesmen was nothing short of hysterical!

 

The second part of my epoch was when Cristy became ill in August 1992 and was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. That means the cancer was already a stage 4 cancer that had moved from her breast to her bones. That was devastating news. During that same time my marriage of 17 years had ended. Cristy managed to go through a lumpectomy, chemo twice, and finally a bone marrow transplant in 1997. Yet no medicine could completely remove her cancer. She died in January 1998 after her 6 year battle.

 

A few months after her death, her oncologist from Birmingham asked me if I would consider genetic testing. I said no. A year later he approached me with the idea of helping a lot of women both young and old. He believed that a twin study might help in gaining valuable knowledge to conquer breast cancer. Well of course I said yes. I underwent genetic testing in the spring of 1999. From the test I found that I was Brac Gene+. This meant both my sister and I had the gene that develops into breast cancer. Everyone informed me that I had an 85% chance of developing breast cancer. I was given a second and third opinion by national oncologists at M.D. Anderson Oncology Center in Texas and NIH in Washington D.C. The odds weren’t in my favor.

 

So in July 2000, I underwent a prophylactic bilateral masectomy which is the removal of both breasts. The only thing they left me was my nipples. I looked like I was going through puberty again. You know that awkward flat chest. Well, in October 2000 I had reconstructive surgery to make my breasts look like they did before. The surgery was so successful, my family and friends weren’t sure I ever had the surgery. I thought that was the end of my story too, but it wasn’t.

 

I worked with my patients at Huntsvile Hospital and the surrounding areas with breast cancer. I even went so far as to speak in Yokuska, Japan to the medical community about the latest and greatest in research.

 

The final part of my epoch occurred in January 2005 when I met a wonderful man named William. On our second date I thought I needed to share my story with him. I thought my story would at least scare him away, but it didn’t. Know what? In spite of my scary news, William continued dating me. I’m sure he couldn’t help but wonder what my battle scars looked like, but he was a true gentleman and never asked. We were married in May of 2005 and my epoch continues. You’ll just have to ask William.