Breast Cancer Life Natalie D'Itri

Natalie shares her reflection on what it was like one year ago, when she received the biopsy results confirming breast cancer. Listen to her story of what it felt like at that moment, filled with fear and unknowns, to now. Natalie shares where she is now, moving forward as a survivor. 
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like. 
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. 
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.  This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
connect@breastcancerlife.org 
 

It has been almost 1 year since my breast cancer diagnosis and it has taken many months to get comfortable being a survivor. Now, I feel a good sense of how I go forward. In this episode, I share important realizations that have helped me to lessen my survivorship fears and allow me to focus on the amazing life I have been given.
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like. 
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. 
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.  This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET’S CONNECT
connect@breastcancerlife.org 

A year ago things were about to get real serious. It will be a year on May 11th since the MRI guided biopsy that came back as invasive cancer. So now I have been reflecting on what I was doing a year ago on select dates in the past several weeks.  
What I really want to share is about how I am moving on. That did not seem possible at all for most of the past year. Especially, when I realized how stuck I felt for quite a while between the recovery from surgery until just a few months ago.
I am not free of unhelpful thoughts - they come and go. I am also getting important thoughts that come into my head. I shift my thoughts to the things I have control over. That leads me to my exercise. I do know that exercise is the best medicine (in addition to the hormonal therapy).
So now, when I feel ok and not so scared that my cancer will return, I am faced with a new challenge that is throwing one of my biggest coping strategies out of balance.  I fell and broke my wrist 10 days ago. I ended up with a cast on my right lower arm and part of my hand. 
How was I going to survive?  Exercise, including lifting weights, are part of how I have grown stronger over the past many months. It is part of my coping strategy, where I feel control over preventing any recurrence. 
LET'S CONNECT:
connect@breastcancerlife.org 

This episode was recorded two weeks after surgery. The surgery was a nipple-sparing, skin-sparing left mastectomy. My reconstruction (placement of an implant) was done at the same time as the mastectomy. The treatment I had on the day of this recording was hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This therapy was needed to make sure there was good blood flow over the implant (in the skin and nipple area). I share what physical symptoms I have 2 weeks after the mastectomy and I touch briefly on emotions and the thought of going back to work. 
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like. 
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. 
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.  This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
connect@breastcancerlife.org 

It was a mostly smooth process planning for my breast surgery. In this episode, I discuss the process of going between the breast surgeon and plastic surgeon in the time leading up to my mastectomy and right after. 
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like. 
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast.  
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns. This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
connect@breastcancerlife.org 
 

I am talking about how I shopped around for the best price on Tamoxifen in this episode. The drug is generic and should not cost much, if anything. The pharmacy prices, including the mail-delivery pharmacy from my insurance company, were all over the place. 
Breast Cancer Life is a podcast about my breast cancer experience. This is for you, the person who may be facing a diagnosis, and the person who knows someone facing the reality or real possibility of a breast cancer diagnosis. Nothing could have prepared me for this lived experience. My hope is that you get a glimpse of what this life is like. 
Subscribe, rate, and review the Breast Cancer Life podcast. 
The content of this podcast is not intended to substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a healthcare professional regarding your healthcare needs, questions, and concerns.  This podcast contains the opinions of the host.
LET'S CONNECT:
connect@breastcancerlife.org