In 2022, Heather very nearly cancelled her annual mammogram. If she had, the course of her life would likely have changed dramatically. “I almost skipped it, and it probably would have cost me my life,” Heather said.
A small spot, about 9 millimeters, was found on Heather’s breast. She was sent for a needle biopsy, but didn’t receive a call back after the procedure. “I thought everything was okay,” Heather recalled. When she checked her patient portal, she saw an appointment had been scheduled. “I looked the doctor up and learned she was a breast surgeon,” she said. “That’s how I found out I had breast cancer.”
Heather called her OBGYN, who was shocked no one had called to tell her she had breast cancer. “He said it was non-invasive ductal carcinoma in situ, estrogen and progesterone receptor-positive, HER2-negative.” “I was told that if you have breast cancer, this was the best one to get. And I’d have a lumpectomy, hormone therapy and radiation, that was it. I thought, okay, this will be fine.”
A few days after her lumpectomy, Heather received a notification in her patient portal for a pathology report. “I pulled it up and the report said I had invasive ductal carcinoma, HER2-positive, grade 3, 2.5 centimeters, which was much bigger than 9 millimeters. I was confused, because the report had all this information, but no one had told me.”
A Different Type of Cancer
Heather realized she had a different type of cancer than what she’d been originally told. She called the doctor’s office, but they told her they could not talk to her on the phone, and she needed to wait for her next appointment, which was a couple of days away.
“I pretty much made myself sick worrying about it and looking things up,” Heather said. “It might’ve been better that I had that time to process it. By the time I had my appointment, I already had a pretty good understanding of this type of breast cancer, because I joined Facebook groups, and I learned everything I could about it in those days before my follow-up with the surgeon.”
Correct Diagnosis & A Treatment Plan
Heather’s correct diagnosis was much more serious. Radiation was no longer on the table. She would need six rounds of chemotherapy, so she had a port placed and also had a lymph node biopsy.
After Heather finished chemotherapy, she had a double mastectomy. After surgery, the pathology report showed lobular carcinoma in Heather’s ‘healthy’ breast that had not shown up in a breast MRI. “I’m so glad I chose a double mastectomy, or I’d have had to do another surgery down the road,” she said. “I have very dense breast tissue, so a lot of things apparently didn’t show up on the imaging I had done.”
She had expanders placed for breast reconstruction. While she healed, she had 11 rounds of monoclonal antibody treatment every three weeks. “Treatment was a long, drawn-out process,” she said. “I had 17 infusions and six surgeries, as well as a five-day hospital day when one of my expanders got infected.” Thankfully, the infection was strep, not staph, so the expander could be saved.
Heather also started an injection to block her body from creating estrogen. She was depressed and it was taking a toll. “After I started the shot, I went into a really scary depression. I felt like I was having a nervous breakdown.” Heather talked to her doctor, who determined that she was unable to handle ovary suppression, so he stopped the injection and started her on tamoxifen. “Thankfully, I haven’t really had a whole lot of bad side effects,” she said.
The Importance of Routine Mammograms
“Routine mammograms are important,” Heather said. “My breast cancer is triple positive, so it’s pretty aggressive. If I had skipped my mammogram that year, like I almost did, the cancer would have been in my lymph nodes, or it may have metastasized. If I had cancelled my mammogram, I might not be here today.”
Statements and opinions expressed are that of the individual and do not express the views or opinions of Susan G. Komen. This information is being provided for educational purposes only and is not to be construed as medical advice. Persons with breast cancer should consult their healthcare provider with specific questions or concerns about their treatment.
