Mastectomy

When Betsy Lambert, a New York lawyer, was told she had breast cancer two years ago, her surgeon advised her to have a lumpectomy, removing only the tumor from her breast, followed by six weeks of radiation treatment.But Ms. Lambert, terrified by the disease, sought two more opinions, one from another surgeon and another from a radiologist. Both urged her to have a mastectomy, removing the entire breast."I really agonized," she said. "It was a very, very scary time." In her heart, she said, she believed "a mastectomy is symbolic of the removal not just of the breast but of the disease."

A Glen Burnie pharmacy begins offering today a product for mastectomy patients that its manufacturer says is "the wave of the future."The product, the Discrene breast form, attaches directly to the body, making it more lifelike, said Tracy Julius, a sales representative for Coloplast, Inc."You can swim in it and shower in it," she said. "And you can wear regular bras, swimsuits and lingerie."From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and tomorrow, Ms. Julius and Michele Owens, a pharmacist and certified fitter at Empire Pharmacy, will hold presentations and answer questions on the product at the pharmacy on Hospital Drive, across from North Arundel Hospital.

Breast cancer catapults women into an unpredictable world, a place that often seems landscaped with prickly reminders of mortality and images of healthy breasts. It's also a place, many survivors say, in which each day can suddenly seem richer than ever.And life after breast cancer is increasingly familiar to women in America: One out of eight will get the disease. Roughly 180,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society. More than 150,000 will have one -- or both -- breasts removed.

On Thursday, April 23, I checked my calendar to find tw notations: Andy's birthday present (my son) and teeth cleaned: 2 p.m. I crossed off both of them and penciled in, "Modified-radical mastectomy: 12:30 p.m."I was home by 10 a.m. April 25 -- cancer-free, with a 95 percent chance of staying that way.Talking about my cancer is not something I want to make a career out of. You would never be reading this column were it not for the fact that I attended a cancer benefit luncheon (before my surgery)

DIANE CHRISS of Calabasas, Calif., lost a breast to cancer last year and chose to reconstruct it with a silicone-filled implant, just months before she opted to augment her remaining breast with another implant."