I Had Two When I Came In

About the Book

Fascinating, very creative. Congratulations to this great lady of courage and determination!

—Elizabeth Lancaster, executive director Hillsborough County Unit American Cancer Society

I Had Two When I Came In is one woman’s confrontation with cancer of the breast. It reveals a very personal experience that is shared by many and dreaded by all women. Not all women with breast cancer will receive the same treatment given Ellie Wyatt, but most will be subjected to the same emotional and psychological stresses associated with removal of the breast. Her success in adjusting to the realities of cancer and to her new body image is evident throughout. The book, written with courage and humor, is Mrs. Wyatt’s gift to any who may face the same disease with its medical consequences.

—David M. Richter, MD, Major, USAF
Chief, General Surgery
MacDill AFB Hospital

About the Author

Ellie Wyatt came through the mastectomy operation beautifully. It was her lack of information that made her suffer the most. She became determined she would do everything in her power to help prevent other women from going through the same experience she did—no information when faced with cancer. Her account of the different phases of treatment she underwent for breast cancer is extremely informative. The satirical slant is refreshingly presented. Ellie Wyatt is one of a pair of identical twins, and as she points out, her twin sister is still “all together.” They both were the last of a family of fifteen children raised in Woodside, Long Island, New York. When she was twenty-four, Ellie Wyatt joined the US Air Force during the Korean conflict. During the time she spent in the air force, she became a court reporter. After being honorably discharged from the air force, she went into legal secretarial work. She’s been recording secretary on the executive board of Local Union 173 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, publicity chairman of the Key West Chapter of the National Association of Legal Secretaries, has been a notary public since 1955, worked in income tax at Wards and Sears, and completed approximately ten years in federal civil service. She also writes poetry, which she would like to see transformed into music.