"Cervical (not Breast) Cancer"

My mother died of breast cancer. My grandmother died of breast cancer. Three other female relatives of mine have fallen victim to breast cancer. You can understand that breast cancer is my biggest fear.  I t’s also my doctor ’s biggest fear for me. So I got a mastectomy when I was 30, about ten years ago, and underwent minimal reconstructive plastic surgery to look “normal.”  I was assured that this would prevent my nearly inevitable breast cancer and subsequent death.  

I finally began to feel safe.

It ’s too bad no one told me about HPV and its link to cervical cancer. I had an abnormal pap which revealed high risk HPV which developed in to cervical cancer. Now my worst fear is being realized as I battle for my life against cancer. I have no idea where the HPV came from or how I got it. This makes it worse than the familiar breast cancer I have tried so hard to avoid. At least with breast cancer I knew who it was coming from. But now, some unknown killer has gotten to me, instead of my mother.