How I Survived Breast Cancer:: An Inspirational Journey of Hope and Fact

By Wayne Dornan PhD

Every three minutes, a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. Although more and more men and women are surviving breast cancer,
it is still a very frightening diagnosis, and your life is absolutely turned upside down when you are told you have breast cancer.

This is a book of hope and inspiration. I wrote it for both men and women, and I believe that thousands of women and men will be helped by all the information in this book.
As you will see, throughout the book, each inspirational chapter, which is a documentation of my specific journey with breast cancer, is followed by a factual account
that contains up-to-date information regarding breast cancer and treatment in both men and women.

In addition to it's inspirational chapters, I hope that the factual information in his book will help both men and women make informed decisions regarding their
treatment options and help them understand that there is quality of life after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

In this book you will read that almost from the beginning I decided that I would embrace my diagnosis and not be intimated by it.

As you will read, I would take this diagnosis head-on; I wanted to feel empowered and not helpless!

I want both men and women who read this book to understand that although its not easy, you have to maintain a positive attitude about your diagnosis,
treatment, and prognosis and fight it every day. You can never give up.

Lastly, although our lives will never be the same, as you will read in this book, there are tons of breast cancer survivors out there.
So my advice is to live your life to the fullest and become an inspiration to other breast cancer survivors.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 11, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514424407

Wayne Dornan PhD

Dr. Dornan was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He graduated from Concordia University with an undergraduate degree in psychology. From there, he spent five years in St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada, where he completed a master’s of science and a PhD in experimental psychology, with a focus on neuroscience. In 1986, Dr. Dornan moved to Los Angeles, California, where he graduated with a postdoctoral degree in reproductive neuroendocrinology from the Department of Anatomy at the UCLA School of Medicine. In 1989, he accepted a position as assistant professor of psychology at Illinois Wesleyan University to develop a neuroscience program. While at Illinois Wesleyan University, he cofounded the Central Illinois Neuroscience Foundation, which is a nonprofit foundation promoting neuro–health care in Central Illinois. From there, Dr. Dornan spent a decade in Tennessee at Middle Tennessee State University as a professor and chair of the aerospace department. In 2012, Dr. Dornan accepted a position as dean of the College of Aviation and Public Services at Utah Valley University. In 2015, Dr. Dornan retired and moved back to Tennessee. During his academic career, Dr. Dornan was a leading researcher on Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. He has over fifty scientific research publications and has been awarded numerous research grants, including one at over one million dollars from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Dornan has been on the editorial board of over twelve scientific journals and was an associate editor and eventually editor of a prestigious scientific journal. We provided this information on Dr. Dornan’s extensive academic background because as you will soon read, this background had a significant impact on how he dealt with the diagnosis and how he decided from the beginning to fight, which we believe led to the subsequent success after treatment for his breast cancer.

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Copyright © 2015 by Wayne Dornan, PhD.

Cover illustration © 2016 by John Charles Dornan

Library of Congress Control Number:       2015918553

ISBN:       Hardcover       978-1-5144-2442-1

       Softcover       978-1-5144-2441-4

       eBook       978-1-5144-2440-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/10/2015

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CONTENTS

About the Book Cover

About The Author

Acknowledgment

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: The Journey Begins

Chapter 3: Factual: What Is Breast Cancer?

Chapter 4: The Surgery

Chapter 5: Factual: Treatment Options I

Chapter 6: The Journey: Chemotherapy

Chapter 7: Treatment Option II

Chapter 8: Factual: Advanced Breast Cancer

Chapter 9: Factual: Living with a: Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Chapter 10: Inspirational: Living with: Breast Cancer—What I Learned: from Joel Osteen

Chapter 11: Inspirational: Living with Breast Cancer—The First Eight Years

Glossary

Current Literature

Internet Resources

ABOUT THE BOOK COVER

The concept for this book cover is to illustrate that breast cancer is not just a female disease but a male disease as well. This is captured in the blue-and-pink ribbon. Regardless of whether you are female or male, the diagnosis of breast cancer has a shattering impact on both you and your family. This is why the pink-and-blue color of the ribbon does not have a clear boundary but blends into each other. This signifies that no matter what your gender is, breast cancer is a devastating disease that has similar effects on both men and women. As you may have noticed, the pink part of the ribbon is in the foreground because the majority of breast cancers are in females. The juxtaposition of the tattered boxing gloves hanging from the pink-and-blue ribbon sends the message that breast cancer can be beaten, although it is a constant fight. You must never give up and start each day by putting on the gloves.

The book-cover illustration was done by John Charles Dornan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Dornan was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He graduated from Concordia University with an undergraduate degree in psychology. From there, he spent five years in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada, where he completed a master’s of science and a PhD in experimental psychology, with a focus on neuroscience. In 1986, Dr. Dornan moved to Los Angeles, California, where he graduated with a postdoctoral degree in reproductive neuroendocrinology from the Department of Anatomy at the UCLA School of Medicine. In 1989, he accepted the position of assistant professor of psychology at Illinois Wesleyan University to develop a neuroscience program. While at Illinois Wesleyan University, he cofounded the Central Illinois Neuroscience Foundation, which is a nonprofit foundation promoting neuro-health care in Central Illinois. From there, Dr. Dornan spent a decade in Tennessee, at Middle Tennessee State University, as a professor and the chair of the aerospace department. While at Middle Tennessee State University, on Monday, October 15, 2006, he was sworn in as an American citizen, which, according to Dr. Dornan, was one of the proudest days of [his] life. In 2012, Dr. Dornan accepted the position of dean of the College of Aviation and Public Services at Utah Valley University.

During his academic career, Dr. Dornan was a leading researcher on Alzheimer’s disease and stroke, had over fifty scientific research publications, and had been awarded numerous research grants, including one at over one million dollars from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Dornan has been on the editorial board of over twelve scientific journals and was an associate editor and, eventually, editor of a prestigious scientific journal.

We provided this information on Dr. Dornan’s extensive academic background because, as you will soon read, this background had a significant impact on how he dealt with the diagnosis and how he decided from the beginning to fight, which we believe led to the subsequent success after treatment for his breast cancer.

In 2015, Dr. Dornan retired and moved back to Tennessee, where he currently lives in Smyrna, Tennessee, with his wife.

This book is dedicated to my brothers and sisters who deal with the daily struggles of breast cancer and who will never stop fighting.

Ribbon%20B%26W.jpg

God bless!

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I thought about writing this book about a year after I was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer. Over the years, I have kept this dream alive because of the support that I have had from my family. They have always been my biggest cheerleaders and have encouraged me at every step during the process. Writing a first book is not easy, and I want to thank them all for keeping me focused along the way.

I also want to thank my family, who has been behind me throughout my journey with breast cancer. There were many times, particularly at the beginning, when I thought my world was crumbling around me that they rallied around me and showed me how much they loved me. I have a saying: Don’t tell me you love me—show me in your behavior how much you love me. During the first several months when I was so overwhelmed, my family showed me almost every day how much they loved and supported me with their behavior. For that, I am eternally grateful.

I would like to express my appreciation to all my breast cancer brothers and sisters and their families, who wake up every day and put their boxing gloves on to fight this terrible disease. For those of you and the people you help, you are truly a warrior and an inspiration to us all.

To my wife, who has stood by me since I had the idea to write the book, thanks for listening and being my captive audience for the almost daily chapter recitals. You have always been my biggest supporter, and I couldn’t have written this book without you.

Lastly, I want to thank my brother, who, at times, was more enthusiastic about my book project than I was. I am truly indebted for all the countless hours he spent editing chapters and encouraging me to complete the project because he knew this book was going to make a difference. Jack, you’re the best.

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

COver%20image.jpg What made me decide to write a book about breast cancer? After all, I’m a male. Well, this is precisely one of the reasons. I wrote this book for men and women, and I hope that although this is a male’s journey with breast cancer, in addition to men, thousands of women will be helped by all the information in this book. Indeed, as my journey with breast cancer continues, I realize every day that breast cancer doesn’t discriminate. It transcends cultural and gender boundaries, and when it comes to how men and women deal with the diagnosis and the treatment, these boundaries disappear.

As you will see throughout the book, each inspirational chapter, which is a documentation of my specific journey with breast cancer, is followed by a factual account that contains up-to-date scientific information regarding breast cancer and treatment. Since my diagnosis in 2008, there has been a verifiable explosion of scientific research over the last seven years that has dramatically changed the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated. Therefore, I have incorporated factual chapters that provide a thorough overview of the most recent scientific literature on breast cancer, diagnosis, treatment, and long-term prognosis, which I hope will help both men and women make informed decisions regarding their treatment options and help them understand that there is quality of life after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Which leads me to another reason why I wrote this book. As you will read in the journey chapters, I decided very early that I would embrace my diagnosis and not be intimidated by it. I decided from the beginning to follow what’s imprinted on my pink wristband, which I have worn for over seven years now, Fight Like a Girl, and take this diagnosis head-on. I wanted to feel empowered and not helpless! I want both men and women who read this book to understand that although it’s not easy, you have to maintain a positive attitude about your diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis and fight it every day. You should never give up.

Throughout my journey, particularly during chemotherapy, I could tell within minutes the ones who weren’t going to make it. You could tell by their posture, the way they walked and talked that they had basically given up. I didn’t want this to happen to me. I wanted to have a positive attitude and fight this cancer like a girl. It wasn’t easy at first, and I can honestly say I wasn’t perfect, that every day I didn’t walk around with a big smile on my face, telling people how lucky I was. No, I had my down moments, certainly during chemotherapy, when there were times I just wanted to curl up in my bed in a fetal position and feel sorry for myself. But most of the time, however, I would fight these feelings. For example, when I would start to feel nauseated after my chemo treatment and I wanted to just lie down, I would force myself to do something. Most of the time, this involved going out and playing golf. It was amazing as when I was driving to the golf course, I felt like I could vomit at any second. But without fail, after fifteen to twenty minutes on the golf course, I started to feel much better, and after nine holes, I felt great! It was like my body was saying, OK, I give up. I’ll leave you alone. Go have fun today. It was definitely mind over matter, and I used this strategy over and over again during my treatment.

Another way I fought the diagnosis was to educate myself about every aspect of my condition. I read everything I could get my hands on—lay literature, scientific literature—you name it, I read it. I learned that not only would this help me make informed decisions about my treatment but this would also enable me later on to help other men and women who were going through treatment or had just been diagnosed with breast cancer.

I also wanted to write a book that would inspire men and women and help them deal with what is, at times, an undoubtedly overwhelming experience. Although more and more men and women are surviving breast cancer, it is still a very frightening diagnosis, and your life is absolutely turned upside down when you are told you have breast cancer. My hope is that by sharing my journey, along with the current information regarding breast cancer and treatment, it will help lessen your fears and, at the same time, help you make informed decisions regarding your treatment options. Remember, although breast cancer is a frightening diagnosis, it’s not a life sentence.

This brings me to another reason why I wrote this book. In 2015, the estimated number of new cases of breast cancer in men was 2,350 with 440 deaths. In women, the 2015 estimated number of new cases was 231,840 with 40,290 deaths. Not surprisingly then, most of the information that is published about breast cancer and the new treatments that have emerged within the last ten years come from studies done with women. So the vast majority of the information that is published in this book originated from studies that were done in women, which is fine. In fact, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, I wrote this book for men and women, and I hope that although this is a male’s journey with breast cancer, in addition to men, thousands of women will be helped by all the information in this book. With that said, whenever possible, I have incorporated scientific studies that deal specifically with issues related to male breast cancer. One major issue that you will read about in chapter 3 revolves around breast cancer awareness in men. In a study published in the American Journal of Nursing by Eileen Thomas in 2010, she reported that after interviews with twenty-eight men who had at least one maternal blood relative with the disease, nearly 80 percent of the participants were unaware that men could get breast cancer. I’ll talk more about this in chapter 3.

A Unique Journey

Now, because I am a male, my journey with breast cancer has been comparatively unique, and I wanted to share that with men and women. Indeed, it has been a strange and, at times, an eye-opening experience. As you will read in chapter 6, during my initial oncology consultation, I had an opportunity to get into a clinical trial. My oncologist was one of the researchers that were conducting a major clinical trial, looking at a new drug combination for the treatment of breast cancer. He told me that although the trial wasn’t completed, the preliminary data looked very promising, and he thought I would be a great candidate for the trial. He asked whether I was interested, and I told him, Absolutely! He said he would call his colleague later that day and to drop by his office tomorrow and he would tell me what they had decided. For the first time, I felt very optimistic about my prognosis and couldn’t wait to begin the clinical trial. I dropped by my oncologist’s office the next day, and he told me that although I had the exact diagnosis that they were looking for, because I was a male, I would not be eligible for the clinical trial. I was extremely disappointed.

Another example occurred was when I was at a physician’s office that I had never been to before. During the initial interview, he asked whether there was any history of cancer in