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<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "it's the story of Bret Miller, 32, as said to Beth Greenfield for Yahoo Lifestyle. Miller, of Kansas City, Kansas, was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer after being told by doctors that he considered the fatness as a "fat mass." After having a mastectomy, he founded the Male Breast Cancer Coalition to extend his support. and awareness. "data-reactid =" 32 ">it's the story of Bret Miller, 32, as said to Beth Greenfield for Yahoo Lifestyle. Miller, of Kansas City, Kansas, was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer after being told by doctors that he considered the fatness as a "fat mass." After having a mastectomy, he founded the Male Breast Cancer Coalition to extend his support. and awareness.
It all started my last year of high school. I was 17 years old and I was watching TV when I stretched and scratched my chest and felt like a piece under my right nipple. A week later, I showed it to a doctor during a physical sports activity. He said that the calcium buildup after puberty would dissipate and that there was no reason to worry. When I had to take a medical exam for the university, with another doctor, he told me almost the same thing, verbatim.
I had no insurance at all during my studies at the University of Kansas and, during my last year, I had started receiving a discharge from my nipple if I had to squeeze him. I did not say anything to anyone, and I thought maybe it was the way to "dissipate", so it did not matter. Finally, I had the insurance and I did a medical examination. The doctor was almost out when I stopped him because he said, "All is well," and they do not do male breast exams. So I had to stop him, take him inside and say, "Hey, I've got that size for seven years." He quickly responded and immediately set up a sonogram.
I had to go to the women's clinic, which is a lot of fun. You could say that the other men were waiting for their significant other or their mother to come out. And then the form – they've changed it since – but he had a name, an insurance, "when was your last menstrual cycle" and "are you pregnant?" You know – clumsy.
Bret Miller with his surgeon. Miller wears the t-shirt that his brother created for the Breast Cancer Coalition in Humans. (Photo courtesy of Bret Miller)
The nurse technician got the pictures we needed and called the doctor on duty who was there. She took a triple dose and called for an immediate mammogram. The more I look back, the more I think she knew immediately.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "I knew that breast cancer in the man existed, but it was one of the things I had forgotten.The first man I heard about was Richard Roundtree, the original "Shaft" (years later, I had the chance to be on Katie Couric Show "data-reactid =" 57 "> I knew that breast cancer in men existed, but it was one of those things I had forgotten.The first man I heard about was Richard Roundtree, the Shaft "original (years later, I was lucky enough to be on the Katie Couric Show with him to talk about breast cancer in humans.)
So, they drove me down the hall in my pink dress, they drove me to the machine and they pulled my nipple and my breast. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world. They did not tell me anything at first, but a general surgeon told me that he thought it was a calcium buildup, but because from the moment I had it, he wanted to remove it. They prepared me for surgery, I had a tumectomy and I went home in two hours.
<p class = "canvas-atom web-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "The next day, the surgeon calls me as I "I leave my job at a recreation and pool club where I run an ice rink, comes immediately and tells me that they have sent it to the pathology and the initial report is that" it is breast cancer, and that it would call me back for follow up.This was around the time of Ashton's issue Kutcher. Punk & # 39; d I was waiting for the cameras to come out. I thought I was making me punk. "Data-reactid =" 78 "> The next day, the surgeon calls me when I leave my job in a pool and country club, where I run an ice rink, I drive He does not ask me if I am in a safe place, sitting, not driving, no matter – comes right away and tells me that they sent it in pathology and that the first report says that it 's safe. is a breast cancer, and that it would remind me to follow, it was about the time of the show Ashton Kutcher Punk & # 39; d I was waiting for the cameras to come out. I thought I was becoming punk'd.
But I let it run for a minute. I thought, they took out the mass, so how bad could it be?
So it was barely stage 1 and the treatment recommended at the time was a double mastectomy, for preventive measures. They did not really know what to do with men, because there was not much research, and there was not much yet. In my case, they just recommended what they do for women.
Bret with his wife Tasha and their dog, who is also a survivor of cancer. (Photo courtesy of Bret Miller)
[My parents and I] asked if he had ever done a double mastectomy on a man and he said no, that I would be first. We said to ourselves "we would not want to have a second opinion". And we did it, and he said the same thing, but he said we could only do one side at the beginning. He sent my file to other local doctors and from all over the country. I was the second man in a study conducted at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and the morning of my operation, a doctor there called me and said, "Do not treat the men as women. Do a single mastectomy and that's all you have to do. "
My mastectomy was definitely an interesting day: I had local news from Fox 4 and Channel 9 here, on videotape of the operating room. One of the local reporters, a breast cancer survivor, got wind of my story. The surgeon told me that depending on my age, if I wanted to share my story, I could help many other people – many other men. So that's when we started broadcasting it. What I was told only a few days after the operation was that the surgeon told my mother that it was possible that she was everywhere.
This was finally considered a step 1. But according to my report on the oncotype – which breaks down the tumor at a genomic level to provide a personalized treatment plan – it was recommended to do chemotherapy and a hormonal pill like tamoxifen to prevent recurrence. I felt good, I felt healthy – let's go to chemo and destroy it. I did four cycles of chemotherapy, then about two months after starting taking hormonal pills: first tamoxifen, but with crazy side effects hot flashes, then anastrozole I had been taking for five years. I now have eight years of freedom.
Bret and Tasha on the day of their wedding on October 20th. "Right off the bat, I was very open about the breast cancer survivor," he says. (Photo courtesy of Bret Miller)
I formed the Coalition Against Breast Cancer in Men in 2014 and my brother designed a t-shirt with two handprints and the words, "Guys, do not be afraid to touch you."
We are at Pinktober right now, and everything is pink and nothing is blue; we do not talk much about men. The American Cancer Society is the best company, but other organizations have just added "and men". It's a women's affair – and I understood; there are more women diagnosed and dying. But often, when men are diagnosed, it is metastatic. This is because men do not think they can get it and some of them say, "I do not have breasts, I have pecs." Well, you still have breast tissue.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Absolutely, there is a stigma. A million little things on ABC actually wrote in a character with male breast cancer, a main character. [Things like that are] to make men more vulnerable and comfortable to talk to their friends about emotions, mental health and breast cancer. Men are generally not comfortable talking about our health or our emotions. If we think it's emasculating, we will not say anything. We only go to the doctor if we are on our death bed or if our arm is suspended. That's one of the reasons I waited so long to go to the doctor. I thought, "I'm not dying, so I should be good." "Data-reactid =" 149 "> Absolutely, there is a stigma. A million little things on ABC actually wrote in a character with male breast cancer, a main character. [Things like that are] to make men more vulnerable and comfortable to talk to their friends about emotions, mental health and breast cancer. Men are generally not comfortable talking about our health or our emotions. If we think it's emasculating, we will not say anything. We only go to the doctor if we are on our death bed or if our arm is suspended. That's one of the reasons I waited so long to go to the doctor. I thought, "I'm not dying, so I should be good."
We need more doctors in a physical exam to do a breast exam in men, to take the time. We must stop hearing "the excuse is only 1%" because you have 30 seconds left to take the exam. It's not worth spending your time doing this exam that could save you money [your] life?
<p class = "canvas-atom web-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "I met my girlfriend Tasha the week of Labor Day 2011, at the restaurant where we both worked. She ran to my bar with her name and number on a piece of paper, threw it on me and ran away. We just got married on October 20th at the country club where I worked since the age of 15."data-reactid =" 151 "> I met my girlfriend Tasha during the 2011 Labor Day weekend at the restaurant where we both worked. She ran to my bar with her name and number on a piece of paper, threw it on me and ran away. We just got married on October 20th at the country club where I worked since the age of 15.
I was very open to the idea of being a breast cancer survivor from the beginning. I think I made some jokes about having only one nipple. At the very beginning, I was aware of myself, but that quickly disappeared. If anyone I met was not comfortable with who I am and what I look like, it was not our intention.
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<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "For more cancer videos, like the one above, visit SurvivorNet.com."data-reactid =" 163 ">For more cancer videos, like the one above, visit SurvivorNet.com.
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