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Age: 40-49
Amy Sherrick
breast cancer
stage one

I went to the Doctor for just a small patch of dry skin on the nipple. The Doctor was suspicious and referred me to a general surgeon. After a biopsy, the diagnose was Pagets Disease of the Nipple. I work for a health care attorney and the best advice he gave me was to seek a second opinion. I then went to a breast institute. The diagnose was confirmed BUT, the approach to taking care of the problem was much more aggressive. I was given much more information to be able to make an intelligent decision. I was very grateful that I had sought out the second opinion. If I had not, I would be facing some very serious problems in a few years. The two pieces of advice I would like to pass along is to always, always, seek a second opinion from someone who specializes in breast cancer. The second, is if you must have a mastectomy, as I did, the one thing that I found to help ease the pain in my arm after surgery was resting it on a buckwheat pillow. The pillow took the weight off of my shoulder and never lost its position. I shared this information with my plastic surgeon and he was so impressed that he now recommends to women that the use of a buckwheat pillow under the forearm might help ease some of the pain. One lesson I have learned in this ordeal is that Life is very short, you should live everyday to its fullest, and that this is one time you should make yourself the number one priority to take care of yourself! The support of a dear friend is the best medicine!!

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