CARRIER MILLS - Shirley Waddell is determined to survive.

Early this year, the 54-year-old Carrier Mills woman was diagnosed with Stage 3 carcinoma of the left breast. Now, she is speaking out about the importance of breast self-exams, mammograms and early detection as life-saving tools.

Waddell remembers her reaction to the breast cancer diagnosis.

"I suspected it. I accepted it. I feel it's something I'm dealt with in life to see what I can handle," she said. "I could cry all the time and feel bad about it, let it bother me, but that isn't what I need. I can't let it get me down. I've still got my life to go."

Waddell had her first mammogram about 10 years ago. In her late 40s, a lump was detected in her right breast, but it turned out to be fatty tissue. For the next couple of years, doctors told her to have mammograms every six months.

"When they told me this one here, in the right one, was nothing, and the doctor said it's OK to go back to yearly mammograms, I never had no more," Waddell said. That was about five years ago.

In January, after experiencing chest pains, she went to the emergency room at Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion. A CAT scan revealed two lumps in her left breast and a biopsy later confirmed cancer. The two lumps and 15 lymph nodes were surgically removed in May.

"They have just as much good results nowadays with lumpectomies as they do with mastectomies," Waddell said. "But I told (the doctor), if it came down to it, do a mastectomy."

She described the first chemotherapy treatments, which ended in September, as "the worst ones," because of the nausea. The current treatments haven't made her nauseous, so far, but they cause her bones to ache.

Chemotherapy ends in early December, but Waddell must continue hormone therapy once every three weeks for a year. Sometime after December - she doesn't know when - Waddell will receive 30 treatments of radiation therapy during a six-week period.

Sharon Zucco, outpatient nurse at Heartland, talked about Waddell's enduring optimism.

"She's always up, cheerful. She's one of my favorites," Zucco said. "Attitude is quite important. If you get depressed, it makes everything harder."

Zucco should know. She just finished chemotherapy herself and is now undergoing radiation therapy. "I can tell patients what's coming next," she said. "Until you go through it yourself, you don't really know."

Waddell not only tries to remain positive about her situation, she often finds humor in it. After just 21 days of chemotherapy, her hair started coming out in handfuls. So, she shaved her head.

It wasn't that big of a change, Waddell said. Her hairstyle had been short and spiked. Waddell occasionally dons turbans and baseball hats - pink is her favorite color - but admitted that it's usually more comfortable not to wear them.

"You don't realize when you're bald and it rains, you need a squeegee to squeegee your head," Waddell said. "A lot of times, I just sit and joke about this stuff, because you have to. You have to laugh."

Right now, Waddell is making plans for her immediate future. Halloween, in particular.

"I've been thinking of going as Uncle Fester from the Addams Family," she said. "That would be perfect."

mary.layton@thesouthern.com

997-3356 ext. 5071