About Marissa Lanzito
I was 40 years old when I had my first mammogram — and got a breast cancer diagnosis. I had no symptoms, and no family history of breast cancer.
To say it was a shock for me, my husband of 10 years, Mike, and our two young children would be a massive understatement. But even after that shock wore off, even after a bilateral mastectomy and four rounds of chemotherapy, another shock was coming: the feeling of being cut loose after treatment ended.
I had no idea what to do, who to call and how to feel — other than completely lost. After months of rigid guidance, there was no framework to follow. I felt alone in my grief, in my utter amazement of things that had changed and my inability to understand what was normal and how it was going to get better.
So I built and launched this site, Bad Mammaries. I started it to share my experience, to get perspective from others and most of all to provide some kind of framework for that hazy first year after cancer treatment. I hope Bad Mammaries will help you know you are not crazy even if you feel like an absolute lunatic. I hope it will help you understand that you are not alone in your worry, in your anxiety, in your hot flashes, in your lack of libido and fleeting memory.