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Other women I knew were dreading menopause, but I couldn’t wait.

After nine months of shots, my symptoms were as bad as ever, my weight ballooned, and I felt terrible.

In early 2000, my gynecologist ordered an ultrasound, mainly to check the position of fibroids, benign growths often associated with extensive blood flow.

As a precaution, she also removed uterine tissue and ordered a biopsy, which was negative for cancer.

That was a relief, but in truth, I wasn’t worried, as I had almost no family history of cancer.

My standard line was: “We’re heart attack people.” In fact, my mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 70s.

But since she had taken hormones for 30 years, and her cancer was caught at the early “in situ” stage, I didn’t think it had much relevance for me.

What I didn’t know at the time was that my mother’s father had died of colon cancer, not a heart attack, which raised my risk.

I had gained quite a bit of weight on the hormones, so initially, I was pleased as the pounds dropped off after I stopped taking them.

I chalked up my growing fatigue and occasional shakiness to “getting older.” I wasn’t too concerned that anything was seriously wrong until early December 2000.

I woke up one Sunday morning feeling nauseous and flu-ish, but wasn’t going to let that...

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