Cancer screenings were anything but routine during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Medical offices were closed for weeks, and many yearly screenings were postponed. For one of our members, deciding not to skip it for a year has meant all the difference in how her breast cancer story ends.

In 2020, Jennifer C. had a breast lumpectomy, a surgery to take a tissue sample, after her yearly mammogram showed some areas that concerned her doctor.

“I have no history of breast cancer in my family,” Jennifer said. “I wasn’t worried.”

But this time did seem different for some reason, she said. So she decided to have her husband go with her to the post-op visit, “just in case.”

When the breast surgeon pointed to the images and said, “This second area is cancer,” Jennifer and her husband stared at each other. “We both thought, ‘Did she just say cancer?’”

Believing in Screenings

Jennifer works in the health care field, so she knows how vital preventive health screenings are to a person’s health outcomes. Still, she thought about putting off her mammogram for a year. Her appointment had to be postponed three times because of COVID-19. With no history of cancer in her family, having the screening didn’t seem urgent. But when an appointment came open in July, she took it.

The mammogram found a radial scar,  a growth or lesion that looks a lot like breast cancer.

“Even to my untrained eye, it looked pretty big,” she said. “How could they have missed that the year before?” They didn't miss it. It hadn’t shown up on her last mammogram just one year earlier. 

Taking a sample, or biopsy, of the tissue is the only way to find out what exactly a growth is. Jennifer had a stereotactic biopsy, where images help guide the needle that takes tissue samples. A tiny steel marker is then placed at the biopsy site for future reference. One more mammogram is taken to check the marker’s placement.

The biopsy found that the radial scar was benign (not cancer). The second image, though, found another area of concern.

Diagnosis: Cancer

“I had to have lumpectomy surgery to remove the radial scar. After talking with my new breast specialist surgeon, we decided she would just remove that second area at the same time.”

It was the second site that turned out to be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). 

Thanks to Jennifer’s yearly mammogram screenings, the cancer was caught early and was very treatable.  It was stage 0, which means the cancer cells had not spread outside of the duct. “After all of this is over, you will be fine,” her doctor assured her.

And 15 weeks later, after surgery and treatment, she was fine.

“Don’t get me wrong. What followed my diagnosis was hard,” she said. “There were more tests, scans, invasive procedures, a second surgery and 20 radiation treatments.”

During those long weeks, Jennifer said she struggled with fear, sadness and anger along with the pain, general discomfort and fatigue from the treatments.

“But I was grateful. During my cancer treatment, I saw other patients who had it so much worse than I did. Thank goodness my cancer had been caught early and was easily treated.”

A 5-Year Prognosis

After two surgeries and a round of radiation treatment, Jennifer says her prognosis is good. She’ll be taking the drug tamoxifen  for the next five years. Her breast cancer was estrogen receptor positive,  meaning that estrogen attaches to cell receptors and can help cancer cells grow. Tamoxifen blocks estrogen receptors on breast cancer cells. Taking the drug lowers her chance of getting breast cancer again to just 1 to 2 percent.

And without a doubt, she said she’ll get a mammogram each year.

Presented by Jennifer C.

Sources: Lumpectomy Overview,  Mayo Clinic, 2021; Radial Scars,  Breastcancer.org, 2018; Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS),  American Cancer Society, 2019; Breast Cancer Hormone Receptor Status,  American Cancer Society, 2019; Hormone Therapy for Breast Cancer,  American Cancer Society, 2019; What Are the Risk Factors for Breast Cancer?,  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020