Diane's Breast Cancer Story - 1

When Diane shared her story with me, I asked if I could post it for others to read. All of us know of someone whose life has been turned upside down by breast cancer. What I found over the years is that a lot of us do not know how to be proactive when it comes to our health. Most of the times, we're too busy to pay attention. Sadly we care for others better than ourselves, and we wait until we're literally crawling into the ER before we acknowledge that there is something wrong. This is our body, God's temple and we need to care for it but in order to do that, we must make the effort to educate ourselves and raise awareness for others.

There will be several posts that represent updates she sent family and friends via email. It allows us a glimpse of heart struggle and her relentless search for answers.

Thanks Diane... xo

Disclaimer: This is a true story. This represents the writer’s opinion only and should not be used as a medical guide. The writer does not claim that medical information contained in this story is completely accurate, current or error free. The writer is not responsible for direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or any other damages arising out of or in connection with the information provided in this story. Please consult your physician for all medical procedures, advice, plan of actions and tests

Being diagnosed with Breast Cancer was especially scary for me as my sister and grandmother both died young from the disease. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer on November 14, 2005. My story began with our annual family beach trip.

In August 2005, my family and I drove to North Topsail Beach, NC for our yearly family vacation. That particular day, we had all spent many hours swimming in both the ocean and the pool, so when I found the lump in my left breast I assumed it was caused by muscle exertion from the exercise. Not knowing for sure, I called my OB GYN and scheduled an appointment. My OB GYN referred me to a breast center for a mammogram. The breast center performed a mammogram and an ultrasound and determined that the lump appeared to be normal breast tissue. As my sister died 10 years ago from Breast Cancer, this news was what I wanted to hear and I didn’t worry about the lump any longer. In hind site, I wish I had been more aggressive and insisted on a needle biopsy.

My mother periodically asked if the lump was still there. Ironically the lump changed in size and on the day of my visit to the breast center, the lump was barely palpable. Fortunately for me, I had my yearly mammogram scheduled for early November and the lump was questionable on that mammogram. When I was called back, I still wasn’t concerned. The call back was Nov. 11^th. That day they performed a needle biopsy, and as I hate needles I was more afraid of the procedure than the results. I waited over the weekend for the test results. Over the course of the weekend, I went back and forth with how I felt, at times I was convinced I was going to die and at times I convinced myself it was nothing to worry about.

On Monday, Nov 14^th, my husband Dave and I received the news that it was indeed Breast Cancer. We were both shocked and scared. I was also angry that they did not find this in August. So, the doctor showed me mammogram slides from 2001 and sure enough there was a big white area on the slides. Since this area never really changed from mammogram to mammogram, they were unconcerned. In the future, I will always look at my mammogram films. Every woman should be aggressive with her own mammogram reports. She should be informed as to what a normal mammogram should look like and if there is a questionable area, she should ask about a needle biopsy. The procedure is not really painful and only takes a few minutes.

At home later that day, I immediately went online and dug up all the information I could find on Breast Cancer and read all the literature that the breast center had given me. I became obsessed with reading information on Breast Cancer. I assumed I would be a candidate for a lumpectomy and radiation only from what I was originally told. The next night there was a local Breast Cancer support group meeting. The timing was perfect. That night, the meeting was actually designed to discuss new diagnoses and how you felt. I was scared and was certain I had been given a death sentence. Two of the women at the support group were my age and had gone though a lumpectomy and radiation and they could answer all the initial cosmetic and emotional questions that I had at that time. But no one could answer the big question. Will the cancer come back?

My questions to the group were:

What will the scar look like?

Will I have one breast noticeably smaller than the other?

Will my sex drive be changed from this?

The women showed me their scars and this gave me enough confidence that I felt I could go through this ordeal. I believe support groups give you strength to fight. Keeping a positive attitude and good spirits helped me though the next seven months of treatment.

I have a dear friend who is a Colon Cancer survivor and she gave me the phone number to a Comprehensive Cancer Center for a second opinion. I made an appointment the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and met with a genetic counselor, an oncologist surgeon and several nurses. As my sister and my maternal grandmother both died young from Breast Cancer, it was advised that I get a test for the BRAC1&2 genetic mutations. The test results would take 5-6 weeks to return and the surgeon suggested we wait to do the lumpectomy after the results were back. We scheduled sentinel node surgery only.

The next step was going to the surgeon and the oncologist. I met with a local doctor and he suggested that I also meet with an oncologist, as my lump was now 2.2 cm and perhaps chemotherapy would reduce the lump size and a better cosmetic result could be accomplished. I was also scheduled for an MRI. The local doctor indicated that he would have to remove tissue about the size of a lemon to ensure clean margins. I thought about a lemon, not sure if I had much more breast than that, and I wondered how I could look evenly balanced if they removed that much tissue.

After much thought and research, I determined that I wanted to treat THIS cancer first and then worry about the future in the future. I called the surgeon and asked if we could go ahead and do the lumpectomy and node surgery together and then wait. He said “yes as long as I was willing to have surgery twice if the genetic testing was positive”. I was willing. I wanted this cancer out of me! I almost decided that even if the genetic test was positive, I was going to roll those dice and just have the lumpectomy and not bilateral mastectomies – not yet.

The MRI results showed no further questionable area except for an enlarged lymph node in the right breast. I cried with joy when the results came back. My husband and parents were not taking the Breast Cancer news very well. We all had my sister Gale’s memory as our only real Breast Cancer experience. Gale suffered though her treatments and only lived 2 ½ years after she was diagnosed.

My surgery was scheduled for December 7th, and believe me I was really scared - scared of the needles and scared that the cancer was worse then initially diagnosed. My family, friends and co-workers were all praying for me. I believe in the power of prayer and the Lord answered my prayers on December 7^th. The surgery went well. There was NO lymph node invasion and the tumor was only 1.8 CM. The next step was chemotherapy, which began on January 4^th.