A breast-cancer survivor who splits her time between Durango and Texas has turned the diary she kept during a year of physical and emotional turmoil into a book.
“I’m not a superwoman, so anyone can beat cancer if it’s found early,” Beverly Stacy Dittmer, the author of Breast Cancer: The Unplanned Journey, said by telephone from Texas. “I’m eager to share my experience and advice.”
Dittmer, 70, a retired software engineer and program manager, in June 2003 discovered a lump in her right breast that a mammogram six months earlier hadn’t detected.
A month later, Dittmer learned she had cancer. So began a year in which she underwent two lumpectomies, a hematoma and clean-out surgery, a double mastectomy and six months of chemotherapy.
All the while, Dittmer was writing almost daily to family and friends about her condition, her emotions and her fears.
In the introduction in her book, Dittmer said: “What does one do at 6:30 p.m. when your surgeon calls to inform you that the results of your pathology report are in and that your lump was cancer?
“Time stood still,” Dittmer said. “I held the phone in my hand, but my mind was numb, and my ears were barely hearing.”
“I hadn’t expected this kind of diagnosis,” Dittmer said. “I didn’t have any family history of cancer, so I shouldn’t have cancer.”
Dittmer organized her extensive communication with friends and family members and write a book, a chore that kept her busy from 2007-09.
The manuscript languished in 2010, but something happened in February 2011 that focused her attention, Dittmer said.
“I fell and broke my leg while skiing at the top of Purgatory,” Dittmer said. “While in surgery, I had six pulmonary embolisms that kept me in the intensive-care unit on a respirator for 14 days.
“I figured that since God put me to writing the book, I’d better get it published,” Dittmer said.
As part of Breast Cancer: The Unplanned Journey, Dittmer, the main speaker at the 2012 Relay for Life, the annual nationwide cancer fundraiser held at Fort Lewis College, offers 75 recommendations, pieces of advice, for readers.
The advice ranges from practical tips to intellectual musings.
“Don’t get behind the pain curve,” Dittmer said. “If you don’t take your pain meds until you’re hurting, they won’t work until you take several doses.”
She also recommends being a meticulous record keeper.
“Keep a record in writing of everything – time, place, results and especially a doctor’s notes,” Dittmer said. “Carry your notes with you because they’re handy if you see more than one doctor.”
Sharing feelings and thoughts with friends, family and counselors is important, Dittmer said.
“I didn’t discuss my fears enough,” she said. “It was scary because I had a lot of irrational fears.”
Treasure friends, Dittmer said.
“My friends pulled me through,” she said. “I never felt separated because they kept me attuned to them and their activities through cards, calls and emails.”
A cancer survivor always thinks about the possibility of the disease returning, Dittmer said. But for the moment, she’s in remission, and life is good.
daler@durangoherald.com
