Wendy's Story

Name: Wendy
State: Oregon
Date of Diagnosis: February, 2014
Age of Diagnosis: 44
Stage of Diagnosis: Stage 2B
Time from "normal" mammogram to diagnosis: 3 months 

I pride myself on my physical strength and can-do-most-anything ability.  I have no first degree relatives with breast cancer, but being a "good patient' I followed my doctor's advice and started annual mammograms at age 40.  All results have been clear, including my most recent mammogram in November 2013.  I found a large lump in my right breast in February 2014. I had the impression that breast cancer grows slowly, so thought this lump must be anything but breast cancer after having had a clear mammogram just three months earlier.  My doctor sent me for a diagnostic mammogram which revealed "suspicious calcifications". While waiting for my biopsy I asked the radiology tech how my most recent mammogram could be clear but the diagnostic not. She replied that my dense breast tissue was a challenge for mammogram technology. I asked what they recommend for people like me with dense breast tissue, and she said some women's doctors will have them alternate between mammography and ultrasound, or MRI. I had been told years earlier by my ob/gyn that I had dense breast tissue, but didn't know the significance until now. No alternatives to mammography were suggested or offered. 

Following the biopsy I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.  I was thrown off given the size (3 cm) and seemingly sudden appearance. Where was it hiding all this time, I wondered? The tumor margins were clear but cancer had metastasized to two lymph nodes. I had a full axillary sweep.  Five days after surgery I developed severe, persistant nerve pain in my shoulder that is closely associated with tumors in this area of the breast, axillary node removal, and the relative youth of the patient. As I live with this unexpected, debilitating pain, and work to heal before beginning chemotherapy next month, the well-meaning words of my general physician replay in my mind: "It's good we caught it early." Did we, I think to myself? A 3 cm non-aggressive tumor that has spread to the lymph nodes does not meet my definition of early. The dense breast tissue notification legislation passed in my state in March of this year, many years too late to benefit me. But on behalf of all the other women who will walk this road, I am deeply relieved this this legislation will help them, and make many of their journeys much easier.