Katie is a member of the Young Survival Coalition. She agreed to do an interview about her breast cancer journey. She blogs here, when I just checked her blog she had a funny post to share about how her cleaning lady likes to party.

"i left an ativan on the bookcase last week.
she put it in the candy bowl."

How did you find out you had breast cancer?
In November 2006, I had an excisional biopsy to remove what I had been told was a fibroadenoma. A few days after the surgery I went back to the surgeon to have some stitches removed. At the time I was so convinced it was benign that I didn't think to be nervous about getting the results of the pathology report. When my surgeon told me it was cancer, I didn't get upset. I just really had no idea what "cancer" meant, as it was nothing I had ever thought about happening to me. I spent the rest of the day in shock - I didn't even cry. Incidentally, it was the same day as my nine-year anniversary with my husband. We ate a very expensive dinner in complete silence.

What types of breast cancer treatments were recommended?
Because the tumor was Her2 positive and nuclear grade 3, my treatment plan was pretty self-evident. I met with three different oncologists who all recommended the exact same chemotherapy plan - four rounds dose dense AC, four rounds dose dense Taxol, and a year of Herceptin. I didn't have any positive lymph nodes so I don't have to do radiation. Instead, I'm having a bilateral mastectomy in a few weeks. I met with five different specialists to make that decision, and all of them said that the mastectomy is simply a personal choice. It was much easier to be instructed on my chemotherapy plan than to make a medical decision on my own.

How did you research breast cancer and breast cancer treatments?
I have my Masters in Public Health, so I'm used to reading medical literature. I did most of my research on PubMed. Whenever I see a news story about new study findings about breast cancer, I always find the original journal article. Some studies are more robust than others, but they're always presented as equally valid in the media. I prefer to reach my own conclusions about the relevance of hyped-up new breast cancer findings.

How did you tell your family?
I just called them up and said "I have cancer." I never have a problem telling people about it. I go to work every day bald. I've been totally upfront about it since the day I was diagnosed.

Are you involved with any breast cancer support groups, fundraisers or breast cancer organizations?
Not yet. I'm trying to figure out which organization I want to work with and whether or not I want to focus my energy on breast cancer in general or breast cancer in young women. I'm also not sure that I want to focus on breast cancer at all. Cancer in general has been making me really angry lately so I may decide to work with an organization like the American Cancer Society so my money and time can benefit all cancer survivors.

What advice would you give to someone newly diagnosed with breast cancer?
When you're first diagnosed, everyone in your life wants to help you somehow - people send tons of flowers and food and the phone rings off the hook. Don't feel like you have to answer the phone. Don't force yourself to write thank you notes. Don't feel like you have to return someone's lasagna pan right away. This is one time in your life when it's perfectly okay to be rude. Make yourself your number one priority, and don't try to manage anyone else's feelings about what you're going through.

What advice would you give the family members and friends of someone diagnosed with breast cancer?
Don't offer to do "anything" for the person diagnosed with cancer. Offer to do something specific. Offer to take their dog for a walk or to cook dinner or clean their house. When you offer to do "anything" the cancer patient needs, you put the responsibility of the offer on the patient. There are some days when it's hard enough just to get out of bed and take a shower - much less figure out how to use all those non-descript offers of "help."

As a breast cancer survivor, what thoughts do you have on surviving breast cancer and being a breast cancer survivor?
The day you're diagnosed, life changes forever. To have this happen at 27 was a really difficult thing for me to handle. I used to think about how angry I was that I only got 27 years of not constantly worrying about cancer - why did I have to lose my innocence so young? Now that I'm out of treatment and re-entering the world as a "survivor," I realize that getting the cancer wake-up call was also a gift. It sounds trite, but surviving cancer makes you see the world differently - recently I caught myself literally stopping to smell roses.

Name three breast cancer books you would recommend:
Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book
"Cancer Vixen" by Marisa Acocella Marchetto
"Illness as Metaphor" by Susan Sontag. Her explanation of the social construction of cancer helped to demystify it for me. Cancer is an illness - not a personality trait.

Name other breast cancer related resources that you recommend:
www.youngsurvival.org
www.breastcancer.org
www.pubmed.com