As a 13 year breast cancer survivor, I have been very religious about scheduling my annual mammograms and so in September of 2013, I went for my mammogram. Told I had dense tissue in my one surviving breast, I requested an ultra sound screening. When the radiologist informed me that she saw a lump in my breast, she recommended an ultra sound guided needle biopsy. Two days later I was told the lump was benign. But I was not happy with the thought of this lump being left in my breast. My oncologist assured me that it did not need to be removed and that we would check it again in three months. Whatever it was that prompted me to seek a second opinion with a breast surgeon affiliated with a different hospital, I have no idea. After insisting on re-doing the mammogram and the ultra sound, the surgeon informed me that she found a second mass that was never seen by the first radiologist. An MRI showed that both masses were suspicious, she said, and should be removed. The lumpectomy pathology showed that both masses were cancerous. Following a mastectomy, I was informed that while the cancer was Stage 1 and there was no lymph node involvement, the cancer was an aggressive one – HER2 positive, grade 3. I’m now going through chemotherapy – a combination of Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin. Following six treatments, I will be on Herceptin for a year. When I think about it, I wonder just where I would have been in three months if I had not followed my instincts.

Anita Manley
Newburgh, NY