FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009
Guest column: No mammograms, nor lumps, predicted this bout of breast cancer TONI JACKSON
The article I wrote regarding lobular breast cancer ran in yesterdays newspaper. Here is the link to read it on line in case you are interested & missed it. Just sharing the information....
Hugs, Toni
By now most of us have heard that October was Breast Cancer Awareness month.
Well, I sure as heck was a lot more aware of breast cancer this October than I was last October because now I know that I have it.
Not only do I have it, but my first sign of it in mid-July was being diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer ... with no lump ... and I'd had regular annual mammograms! By the way, it's called Stage 4 because it has spread to my lymph nodes and many of my bones, but it actually takes eight to 10 steps of worsening conditions to reach Stage 4 (depending on what books you read). It should be called Stage 10! And someone should have noticed.
The scale starts with Stage 0 if the cancer is discovered very early. Then there is Stage 1, Stage 2A, Stage 2B, 3A, 3B, 3C, and finally Stage 4. So with all my regular check-ups, blood work, and various medical tests done over the last few years, how come nobody noticed it until now? One of my doctors told me recently that my body could have been trying to fight this stuff off for six or eight years already! Another doc mentions survival rates of five years, 10 years ... starting from when is what I'd like to know ... or maybe I don't. I feel fine now, just like before I knew.
My motivation for writing this article is to share with the women who read it that there are at least two kinds of breast cancer, and the kind I have is called “lobular” and there is no lump. With lobular breast cancer, the cancer forms in long, stringy, spider-web-type shapes in the lobe of the breast and only makes the breast feel more firm (Hey! I thought that was a good thing).
Also I want to spread the word that if you are on any type of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), especially Premarin (which I took for years), that according to “Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book,” alcoholic drinks increase the estrogen levels in your body. Why don't they tell us these things! The estrogen is apparently what feeds the cancer. I may not have decided to quit having a cocktail, but I sure as heck would have quit taking Premarin sooner!
By the way, I did go to my gynecologist here in Roseburg in March to complain that my right breast felt different. I was told to quit drinking any caffeine for a month and come back to be re-examined, which I did, and was told that it was “probably OK.” No tests were offered or given.
I suppose that even at that point, it would have been too late anyway. Since the cancer has been found in my back bones, my ribs, my neck, shoulders, pelvis and foot, it probably would not have spread that far in just four months.
As for regular mammograms, this type of cancer does not show up, obviously. Even after my cancer was accidentally discovered (in my bones, on a CT scan for something else), and a biopsy on two of my vertebrae detected breast cancer cells, they never did find a lump on either of the new mammograms done after my diagnosis.
I was told that when comparing my new mammogram to the one from 2005 (after the diagnosis) that a “slight difference” was noted. Do they always compare the new mammogram to any from the past in order to detect any change? I don't know, but they should, especially since a “breast MRI” will probably never be given routinely as a check-up tool due to the cost. It wouldn't cost much to compare a couple of mammograms would it? To save someone's life? I'd have paid for it if necessary.
To end on a more positive note, there is some good news about my diagnosis in that I feel fine at this point, and I am not scheduled to have any surgery, radiation or chemo. That's because those treatments are done to prevent the spreading of the cancer, kill the cells, and allow the patient to live a normal life span. Since mine has already spread to my bones, etc., there is no point in my getting those treatments. I verified that information by seeking other opinions at both Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland and City of Hope in Southern California. I am happy not to be going through those treatments and am doing well so far on just my little daily pill and monthly IV infusion.
So that's my story and I hope by sharing, it may make someone think twice about taking it lightly if your breast feels perhaps more firm than it did before. Unfortunately, that may not be a good sign.
Toni Jackson has been a Roseburg resident since 1992 after living most of her life in California's San Fernando Valley. She's an avid amateur photographer, a mother and a grandmother. She and her husband, Craig, live along the North Umpqua River. She can be reached at TColeJackson@aol.com.
Well, I sure as heck was a lot more aware of breast cancer this October than I was last October because now I know that I have it.
Not only do I have it, but my first sign of it in mid-July was being diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer ... with no lump ... and I'd had regular annual mammograms! By the way, it's called Stage 4 because it has spread to my lymph nodes and many of my bones, but it actually takes eight to 10 steps of worsening conditions to reach Stage 4 (depending on what books you read). It should be called Stage 10! And someone should have noticed.
The scale starts with Stage 0 if the cancer is discovered very early. Then there is Stage 1, Stage 2A, Stage 2B, 3A, 3B, 3C, and finally Stage 4. So with all my regular check-ups, blood work, and various medical tests done over the last few years, how come nobody noticed it until now? One of my doctors told me recently that my body could have been trying to fight this stuff off for six or eight years already! Another doc mentions survival rates of five years, 10 years ... starting from when is what I'd like to know ... or maybe I don't. I feel fine now, just like before I knew.
My motivation for writing this article is to share with the women who read it that there are at least two kinds of breast cancer, and the kind I have is called “lobular” and there is no lump. With lobular breast cancer, the cancer forms in long, stringy, spider-web-type shapes in the lobe of the breast and only makes the breast feel more firm (Hey! I thought that was a good thing).
Also I want to spread the word that if you are on any type of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), especially Premarin (which I took for years), that according to “Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book,” alcoholic drinks increase the estrogen levels in your body. Why don't they tell us these things! The estrogen is apparently what feeds the cancer. I may not have decided to quit having a cocktail, but I sure as heck would have quit taking Premarin sooner!
By the way, I did go to my gynecologist here in Roseburg in March to complain that my right breast felt different. I was told to quit drinking any caffeine for a month and come back to be re-examined, which I did, and was told that it was “probably OK.” No tests were offered or given.
I suppose that even at that point, it would have been too late anyway. Since the cancer has been found in my back bones, my ribs, my neck, shoulders, pelvis and foot, it probably would not have spread that far in just four months.
As for regular mammograms, this type of cancer does not show up, obviously. Even after my cancer was accidentally discovered (in my bones, on a CT scan for something else), and a biopsy on two of my vertebrae detected breast cancer cells, they never did find a lump on either of the new mammograms done after my diagnosis.
I was told that when comparing my new mammogram to the one from 2005 (after the diagnosis) that a “slight difference” was noted. Do they always compare the new mammogram to any from the past in order to detect any change? I don't know, but they should, especially since a “breast MRI” will probably never be given routinely as a check-up tool due to the cost. It wouldn't cost much to compare a couple of mammograms would it? To save someone's life? I'd have paid for it if necessary.
To end on a more positive note, there is some good news about my diagnosis in that I feel fine at this point, and I am not scheduled to have any surgery, radiation or chemo. That's because those treatments are done to prevent the spreading of the cancer, kill the cells, and allow the patient to live a normal life span. Since mine has already spread to my bones, etc., there is no point in my getting those treatments. I verified that information by seeking other opinions at both Oregon Health & Sciences University in Portland and City of Hope in Southern California. I am happy not to be going through those treatments and am doing well so far on just my little daily pill and monthly IV infusion.
So that's my story and I hope by sharing, it may make someone think twice about taking it lightly if your breast feels perhaps more firm than it did before. Unfortunately, that may not be a good sign.
Toni Jackson has been a Roseburg resident since 1992 after living most of her life in California's San Fernando Valley. She's an avid amateur photographer, a mother and a grandmother. She and her husband, Craig, live along the North Umpqua River. She can be reached at TColeJackson@aol.com.
