In Their Own Words: Two lives, two stories

Lynn's Story

The idea of the Chinese game of mahjong is similar to gin rummy or poker, except it’s played with tiles instead of cards. To achieve multiples or sequences, a player needs skill, combined with luck. You consider the hand you’re dealt and make the best strategic decisions, based on the information you have. Lynn Michel, a New City resident who’s been playing the game with a handful of friends at least once a week for 30 years, supposes mahjong is a little
like life.

“If you think about it, everyday you have to make decisions,” says Lynn. “You constantly have choices. You might know what you’re doing, but you don’t know how other people can effect your life.”

And so it was, when Lynn was diagnosed with breast cancer last September. She had to choose a doctor—the doctor who would perform her surgery, the first phase of her treatment; the doctor who would impact her life in the most direct way. “

I was sure I was going to die, sure that my one-year-old grandson would never remember me, sure that I’d have to lose my breast completely in order to live. I was prepared for the worst,” recalls Lynn, who is a customer service rep for a medical company that sells disposable supplies and, ironically, had an earlier career as a medical technician in a histology lab, analyzing tissue from breast biopsies.

It was fate, Lynn believes, that led her to M. Michele Blackwood, MD, a renowned breast surgeon and Director of Breast and Women’s Health Prevention Services at Nyack Hospital. Not only did her family physician recommend Dr. Blackwood, but a second doctor and a nurse (whom she’d visited for an unrelated health matter) told her she’d be in good hands with Dr. Blackwood. None of the three were affiliated with Nyack Hospital. “

She walked into the room with a confident smile and an upbeat attitude,” says Lynn of her first consult with Dr. Blackwood. With Lynn’s test results in hand, the doctor explained why she felt Lynn’s prognosis was a good one. “She said, ‘Forget about dying, forget about a mastectomy. ’” A sentinel node biopsy revealed no evidence of disease beyond the tumor, so Dr. Blackwood performed a lumpectomy and removed just three lymph nodes, as a precautionary measure. “

The surgery came out beautifully,” says Lynn, only two weeks post-op. She has a “very small” scar on her breast and another under her arm. “

Dr. Blackwood has the bedside manner and compassion to talk to her patients as human beings,” asserts Lynn. “It’s a calming, reassuring manner. She encourages questions. If there’s something I don’t understand, she’s willing to explain it. I never have the feeling she has one foot out the door while we’re talking. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if all doctors treated their patients this way?” Lynn enjoys an active social schedule that includes family, friends and acquaintances that share her passion for mahjong and square dancing. During quieter moments, she relaxes by cross-stitching and gardening. And just as she had worked to recover from the debilitating effects of a car accident 10 years ago, determined to “get back on my feet and fight the problem,” she’s facing her cancer diagnosis with the same attitude and approaching the next phase of her treatment with a positive outlook.

“I don’t think I could get better care at any of the bigger hospitals or cancer centers in New York City, or more support, encouragement or compassion, than at The Breast Center at Nyack Hospital,” Lynn declares. “Everyone works hand-in-hand, they exude upbeat hopefulness to patients. There’s no gloom and doom anywhere in that building.”