What Happened When Ma Was Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

In Feb 2021, my sweet mama was diagnosed with breast cancer. And our world was turned upside down.
Breast cancer touches so many lives. 1 in every 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, which is a staggering statistic!

In the last year and a half, my ma has been through the whole gamut of breast cancer treatment: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and immunotherapy. All that is left for her to do is take a daily estrogen reduction pill for the next ten years.

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought this was the perfect time to share our journey. This blog series will cover all the tips, resources and insights we have gained along the way, starting with ma’s breast cancer diagnosis.

Ma’s Diagnosis Story

My ma really dislikes going to the doctor, or taking medications and pills – an unfortunate situation given that she also has diabetes, which requires plenty of both. It’s quite ironic as her that her own mother was a pharmacist. The current recommendation for women in their 60s is to get a mammogram every 2 years, depending on risk factors (prior to that it’s yearly). However, ma didn’t feel the necessity of getting routine mammograms, secure in the knowledge that she had no family history of breast cancer, and having breast-fed four daughters for over a year each (which is also preventative of breast cancer). Her first, and only, mammogram had been 8-10 years ago, so long ago that we never could track down the images from it.
In early 2021 she wasn’t planning on going in for a mammogram either. Our household was locked down tight for covid, largely due to her underlying health conditions, and we weren’t doing anything in person that wasn’t a necessity. So how did it end up happening?
Well, her doctor recommended a bone density scan due to ongoing leg pain she had been experiencing for months. The bone scan was scheduled at an imagine center where mammograms were also done, so she figured she might as well kill two birds with one stone (not the most pleasant oh idioms, but you know what I mean!).

Mammogram and Biopsy Results

After her first mammogram, ma’s results came back saying ‘there is a focal asymmetry with associated calcifications’ and ‘a possible additional asymmetry is seen in the left medial breast’. Our favorite line from the report was that ‘the right breast is unremarkable.’ ‘Additional mammographic views’ and an ultrasound were required, since she also has ‘dense breast tissue’ which can make it harder to find cancer on a mammogram and may also be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. However, it did also stipulate that ‘most of these findings are benign (not cancer)’.
The results of the second mammogram and the ultrasound of the left breast were a bit more ominous, stating, ‘your imaging showed an abnormality that required a biopsy.’
Even at this point, ma really wasn’t too worried. She had read that approximately 80% of biopsies come back benign. In the middle of a snowy winter, the last thing she wanted to do was go in for yet another appointment. Even while I was driving her to her biopsy, she told me she felt this could all be a waste of time.
Spoiler alert, it wasn’t. The biopsy may have brought life-changing and challenging news, that ma had breast cancer. But I’m so grateful she went in for those mammograms and the biopsy, because it gave us the information we needed to take action, move forward and deal with the problem at hand.

Timeline of Diagnosis Appointments

Here is the timeline from ma’s first mammogram to first diagnosis, just to give you an idea of how long each step took.

• Jan 6 – Digital screening mammogram with CAD and Tomosynthesis (3-D mammography)
• Jan 20 – Left digital mammogram, and left breast ultrasound
• Feb 16 – Left breast biopsy and ultrasound
• Feb 26 – Appointment with primary care doctor covering blood labs and cancer diagnosis

We could have done these appointments in a more condensed timeframe. We rescheduled the biopsy due to a snowstorm. Ma didn’t feel much urgency to get it done, because she really thought it would come back benign. In hindsight, it would have been better to get things done sooner rather than later!

Lesson Learned

One of the first big lessons we took away from this diagnosis experience, was the importance of getting regular breast exams and mammograms. Even if there’s no history of breast cancer in your family, you just never know when or where it might hit. If it’s been a while since you last went in for a mammogram yourself, why not ask your doctor about scheduling one?
The next posts will cover her surgery, chemotherapy, radiation and more. Let me know if you have any questions, or if there’s anything that would be particularly helpful to cover in upcoming posts!