Joanne's Story

Name: Joanne
State: Connecticut
Date of Diagnosis: February, 2010
Age at Diagnosis: 60
Stage of Diagnosis: Stage I
Time from "normal" mammogram to Stage 1 diagnosis: A month 
How was cancer detected?: By ultrasound - Joanne's doctor recommended an ultrasound even though her mammogram was "normal" as Joanne's breasts are dense.

I had normal mammograms for 20 yrs. I started at age 40 because my mother and grandmother both had breast cancer.  I was not aware of the problem that dense breast tissue could cause on a mammogram even though I am an x-ray technologist.  In January, 2010 I had a normal mammogram. I received my "normal" mammography letter but this time there was a new paragraph added.  It said I had dense breast tissue that could hide a malignancy.  Thank God my gynecologist suggested I have a screening ultrasound because there was a stage 1 cancer hiding behind that dense tissue.  I had a core needle biopsy and was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma.  I met with a surgeon on March 2nd, had an MRI on March 3rd and had a lumpectomy and total axillary dissection on March 12th.  The axillary lymph node dissection was done because even though the tumor was less than 2cm, the sentinal node was positive.  The 27 nodes that my surgeon removed were all negative which was the best news I had heard thus far.  I've had radiation therapy and am now on hormone blockers and doing well.  I will be eternally grateful to my gynecologist for his belief in the new dense breast tissue laws and to the people who fought for these laws.