My diagnosis...Breast Cancer

My name is Dana, and I am a 32 year old married mother of three young girls. I was diagnosed with breast cancer about 6 weeks ago. My life has changed dramatically in that short amount of time since being faced with the treatment of my cancer. I have decided to record my experience for several different reasons! I want other women who may be going through a similar experience to seek appropriate treatment and to be their own best advocate! If you feel like something is wrong…DON’T GIVE UP! Find someone who will listen!! I also want and need to write out my feelings and experiences...Mostly so I won't blow up! With that said...I will start from the top.

I went into a very large women's clinic in our town (Idaho Falls, Idaho) a year ago last March (2004) complaining there was a small lump in the ductal area in my left breast. I couldn't get into see a doctor so I was put in with a nurse practitioner. She told me the lump was nothing to worry about and that cancer started in the back of the breast...She even showed me pictures. ...What!…Ductile carcinoma is the number one type of breast cancer. She told me it was probably a clogged milk duct, even though I hadn't been nursing my baby for over 6 months. No follow up...nothing! So, because I trusted her and didn't know better...I didn't think about it again.

I went to this same clinic several times throughout out 2004 complaining of fatigue and various other symptoms. I went in for my yearly exam in September (2004). At that time I had my regular breast exam. The lump was not checked, even though after obtaining my medical records, it should have been. Again, I couldn't get into a doctor, nor the same nurse practitioner...I had to see an entirely new person. This NP kept putting me on different medications for depression and fatigue without little investigative work on what the real cause may have been ( a large growing tumor). I even got a referral to a psychiatrist for the "depression".

By the following February (2005) I was experiencing severe chest pain and I had a sore area in the same breast I found the first lump. The area was tender to touch and begun rapidly growing into a hard mass. I went in one last time to this same clinic to have it checked. I told her it felt like mastitis or like my milk was coming in. My baby was 20 months old and I hadn't breast feed her since she was 2 months old. The same NP told me there was nothing suspicious and not to worry about it. She actually told me to go home and run my breast under warm water and gave me a referral to a cardiologist for the chest pain!! This is a practitioner at a WOMEN'S CLINIC!

From February to April the mass begun growing even more rapidly and was so sore that I couldn't touch it. I am very large breasted to begin with so when I started becoming lopsided, I knew the mass had to be very large and growing rapidly! My husband demanded I go get a second opinion. I felt frustrated and didn't know where to go. The largest women's clinic in our town had told me SEVERAL times it was nothing to worry about.

One night while watching TV, we came across a commercial for a new OB/GYN Margaret Huggins M.D. , who had relocated from California and was taking new patients. I called her the next day and was seen immediately! She examined the mass in my breast and referred me to get testing done THAT DAY! I was sent to get an ultrasound, mammogram, and ultimately a biopsy. All three tests did show the large mass growing in my breast...But did not show CANCER!!! Even the biopsy didn't show cancer. The pathologist even called me a couple days later to tell me the tissue examined was fiber changes in my breast as well as scar tissue, but not to worry because it wasn't cancer. Dr. Huggins, thankfully had the insight to call a local surgeon Dr. Judy Jones who specialists in breast surgery and consulted with her about having the large mass removed regardless of what it was. I shutter to think of what would have happened if she didn’t!

Since I was told it was nothing to worry about I put off going in to Dr. Jones for a couple of weeks. After meeting with her, she urged me to have the mass removed and thought there may be a possible abscess to drain due to the size and tenderness. I scheduled surgery three days later. I am so grateful I did...The mass was a cancerous tumor the size of an orange measuring 10 cm across!! I was diagnosed with infiltrating ductile carcinoma on May 25, 2005...A day I will never forget.