Last year I had redness and itching on my left breast, but had no lumps. My doctor prescribed cortisone cream & ordered a mammogram (which came back normal). The red eventually turned purple, the skin became tighter and the nipple inverted. At my annual check-up this June my doctor ordered an urgent mammogram and ultra sound and this led to urgent biopsies.
On August 1st, at the age of 49, I was told I had Stage IV Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC), something I (and most people) had never heard of. After dealing with the shock of this news I immediately started researching this disease and this is what I found:
Inflammatory Breast Cancer is the MOST AGGRESSIVE type of breast cancer. - Typically NOT detected on mammograms because IBC does not produce the usual lump. - 5 year survival rate is approximately 40%. - IBC is hard to treat mainly due to delays in diagnosis, a physician's lack of expertise in treating IBC, and its resistance to treatment with standard chemotherapy drugs.
To date I have had 4 rounds of chemotherapy and I have 2 more treatments, then surgery and radiation as the cancer has spread to my spine and hip. My oncologist told me he could give me "years and years" but not "decades and decades" however I refuse to give up. I continue to fight with everything I've got, my children are 18 and 16 years old and still need their mom. And I need to be here for their graduations, weddings and babies.
Cornwall, Canada