Page 13 - SPRING 2016

10 Things I Learned from Cancer

By Seung-Hee Rhee, DDS, MAGD

“Sue, it’s cancer.” With those three words, my life turned upside Moral of the story – no one is going to know your body better
down. than you. Don’t hesitate to get a second or even a third opinion.
Once the radiologist saw the mammo and the ultrasound, she
My name is Seung-Hee Rhee (Sue to my friends). I was 46-years- wanted to do a core needle biopsy the next day. Five days later,
old, a dentist with a nice practice and a condo in Manhattan. I had my friend and OB-GYN, Mel, who just returned from maternity
a busy life – I was a daughter, sister, aunt, friend, dentist, profes- leave, was hugging me and telling me the bad news.
sor, immediate-past president of the NYS Academy of General
Dentistry, and I was this close to finally getting my MAGD 3) Trust your doctors.
(Master of the Academy of General Dentistry). I was never sick So, what do you do when your life turns upside down? You go kind
except for the occasional colds. I was blessed with a strong body of numb and your brain goes into a safety mode where it tries to
that worked hard and never failed me. Like many of us in our pro- pretend it’s happening to someone else. I nodded and asked the
fession, I took my health for granted – working 10-11 hour days, right questions as Mel laid out the recommendations and treatment
6 days a week. I thought I was invincible. options. I was so lucky to have her expertise as an oncologist.
Afterwards, I walked the three miles home on a hot July evening,
Cancer. This couldn’t happen to me. It always happened to but have no memory of how I got there. I think I was in shock.
someone else. Then again, I guess we are all “someone else” to It’s not easy running face first into the wall of your own mortality.
everyone. I was diagnosed with Stage 1A breast cancer in the Yet there it was – solid and unyielding with a coating of cancer on
summer of 2015. What you are about to read is my story and the it. But gradually, reality started to seep into my shocked brain and
lessons I’ve learned from cancer. Before you get too worried, let panic settled in. So, I did what any logical person with a laptop and
me put your mind at ease. Spoiler alert! I am doing fine. Thanks an internet access would do – I researched the heck out of it. I
for caring. found out what kind of cancer I had, what my treatment options
were, what kind of prognosis I was looking at, and I even watched
1) Early detection is KEY. the actual surgery where they placed the mediport on YouTube and
I first detected the lump when I was brushing off crumbs of food scared myself silly. (My doctor yelled at me for that one and told
from my shirt. Awful habit, I know – but I love eating and watch- me too much information was a bad thing. She was right. The actu-
ing tv at the same time. It was al procedure wasn’t bad and I
hard, tender when I pressed, and worried for nothing. They really
about the size of a quarter. My shouldn’t have those things on
first thought was, “How did I get YouTube.)
a bruise there? Did I bump into
something?” All the years of But as Mel said, I was lucky to
medical training and this is what have found it early. But it was
my silly brain came up with. I invasive carcinoma, triple nega-
immediately dismissed it from tive, and aggressive – it came on
my mind and thought it would very fast. More tests followed
disappear in a few days. It didn’t. –MRI, MRI guided biopsy,
Nagging worry began to creep BRCA gene testing,
into my consciousness, but I told myself I got a clean bill of Echocardiogram, CT scans. My tumor was about 2 cm and does
health and a clear mammogram a few months back. Nothing to not appear to have spread, but they wanted to do a sentinel node
worry about, right? So I buried my head in the sands of denial and biopsy from under my arm during surgery to make sure. I was
carried on. But there was no avoiding it. It was there when I recommended surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.
showered. It was there when I got dressed in the morning. After Now the hardest part - I had to find the right doctors. I tell you,
a few weeks, there was no denying it – the lump was not going it is a blessing and a curse to be living in NYC. All the top doc-
away. I needed to go see my doctor. tors and hospitals are here. People come from all over the world
for treatment. I felt so blessed. Then I realized, “Crap! ALL the
2) Be your own advocate. top doctors are here – hundreds and hundreds of them!” How do
I first went to see my primary. After the exam, she told me that you choose? This oncologist went to Harvard and this one went
she thought it was nothing. You don’t know how much I just to Yale, they both did their post training at Sloan Kettering … I
wanted to believe her and say, “Thank you, doctor,” and walk out tell you, I could have spent months searching for the right doc-
of the office. It scares me how many people would do just that tors. But at some point, I had to force myself to close my com-
because they trust their doctors and/or because they want to puter, meet the doctors face-to-face, and go with my gut instinct
believe so badly that everything was alright. But I knew some- and choose the one I felt the most comfortable with, the one that
thing was wrong. I asked my doctor to write me a script to get a I could trust. I had to have faith in my doctors.
mammogram and an ultrasound. I then went for a second opin-
ion with an OB-GYN who was covering for my regular doctor, On a side note, for those of you who never experienced an MRI,
Mel, who was on maternity leave. She also told me that she you have to stay very still for a long time inside this tube while
thought it was nothing, but thought I should get the mammo and there is a loud jackhammer-like noise going on all around you. To
the ultrasound just to be sure. I told her I already set up an offset the noise, they offer you headphones so that you can listen
appointment. to some music to stay calm. During my MRI, the technician
placed the headphones over my ears and left with yet another
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