Gay's Story from Tennessee

In early September of 2000 my husband and I found a lump in my breast. It was time for my annual mammogram. I made an appointment to have it at the Jackson Clinic. In a few days I received a letter from them saying that my mammogram showed up good with nothing suspicious of cancer. I assumed then that the lump was like the one in my sister’s breast that was benign.

I went to my internal medicine doctor in early November, and he checked me. He told me he had received the letter stating that my mammogram was okay. I told him I still had the lump and it seemed to be growing. He said he would take a look at it. He examined the breast and said he needed a surgeon to look at it.

I made an appointment for late November after the surgeon got back from Thanksgiving vacation. He did a needle biopsy that very first appointment. I returned the following Thursday for the results. So on December 5th I found out it was malignant.

He told me the tumor was in the tube, and if it hasn’t penetrated the tube, I would leak. I asked if we could wait until after Christmas for surgery as we were busy at our dry good store we own. He said he wouldn’t advise waiting, and he could operate that Saturday. I had two choices, a lumpectomy or a mastectomy.

I said I had read about lumpectomy and would that be okay for me. He said that would be fine but I would need automatically 36 radiation treatments. I went that day to the hospital and had all the necessary tests so all I had to do was check in on Saturday.

On Saturday they put me in a room and I went to surgery at 9:00 am. He said I did well. He took out the lump and surrounding tissue. He said he thinks he got it all and it would be fine as long as it hadn’t penetrated the tube. I felt real good and ate my lunch.

My daughter and daughter-in-law were with me and I told them I felt fine. So they left and went Christmas shopping. He told I needed to spend the night because of my age. He called the hospital at 8:00 pm to check on me. The nurses told him I was fine and I was asking if I could go home. He wrote out the discharge papers and I went home.

I did fine that night and went to church the next morning. Most people at church were surprised to see me. I had a follow up appointment on Thursday. He told me that it had penetrated. I had two choices, have all my lymph nodes removed or have the sentinel lymph node procedure. That is when they give you a shots of radioactive dye to work up the first lymph node after which you are carried to surgery; the lump is removed and examined for cancer cells very thoroughly.

I had the sentinel surgery and returned the following Thursday for results. I would recommend this surgery to anyone who has breast cancer. He said I had microscopic cells and I would need all lymph nodes removed. I had the rest removed and they found no cancer in them.

My cancer was rated a one and a half on a four point scale because of the first lymph node. I went to an oncologist. He said I needed four chemo before the radiation and four chemo treatments afterwards. The chemo made me very sick and I landed in the hospital after each treatment. The radiation was not as bad. It just made me very tired.

My husband and family were very supportive of me during this time. After the treatments were over, he put me on Tomoxiphen by mouth for two and a half years afterwards. I then took Arimedex for the next two years. Now I return to the doctor once a year for blood tests. So far there has been no cancer.

I had a wonderful oncologist who encouraged me throughout the whole ordeal. He would tell me I had a good attitude and that meant a lot toward my recovery. I never lost faith in God and I feel my prayers were answered.

I told my doctor I used Ole Hambone’s philosophy- No need to mope, fuss or cuss if things were changed they could be wuss. My caregivers were great and my husband was wonderful. I would like to thank them all. Also I’m glad I had the sentinel lymph node procedure the doctor said it could have spread if they hadn’t checked those lymph nodes.

Jackson, Tennessee