My Diagnosis Story

What symptoms led up to your diagnosis?

In May of 2004, during a regular routine annual physical, my doc does a breast exam. Feels a 'thickening' that I never noticed. Has me feel it. Doesn't feel like a 'lump' per se. He decides we'll just 'watch it'. A month later, after many sleepless nights of worry (My best friend had been diagnosed only 3 years earlier), I called and said I want an ultra sound to put my mind at ease. He wanted to book a mammogram. I said "No way." If science can send a probe to Mars that will send back data they can interpret and decide if life e.v.e.r. existed there, they can come up with a better test for breast cancer screening than a 'tit-squeezing machine'. I would agree only to the ultrasound.

What tests did your doctor do, and what was this experience like?

On Ultrasound day, I went in fully prepared for a quick screen and then spend the rest of my afternoon off work running errands. The technician seemed to be taking for.ever. Then she had the Radiologist come in. They talked amongst themselves for a bit. The Radiologist said I was to have a mammogram and biopsy before I leave. I said "No mammogram" and explained why. Then she said, "This is bad. Your surgeon needs the mammogram to plan your surgery". Then she explained the biopsy wasn't to determine 'if' it was cancer, but to stage and grade it. I agreed to the mammogram in a state of shock. The imaging technician tried and tried to get the two tumours that showed on the Ultrasound to show on the mammogram and was not successful even after three horrifying tries. Then I had the biopsy. Then I sat in the parking lot in my car and cried for an hour. Then I went home to wait.

Upon learning about your diagnosis, what happened next?

By the time my family doctor called to have me come in to speak with him, I already knew what I was in for - surgery for sure, chemo likely, radiation possibly. Turns out I would have all three. The worst part of it all, was calling my best friend and getting the phone number of her surgeon. She just kept saying "One in seven, Sandy!!! I took one for the 'team' - this can't be happening!" But it did. Her cancer came back not quite a year later, we were both bald for a while. Then her cancer metastasized to her liver, and she died shortly after. Fourteen years later, I can hardly believe I'm still sucking air.