Connie's story

Male Speaker:  She is the love of my life. She was scheduled for a mammogram and they called back a week or so later and said, “We saw something that we really didn’t care for.” So they had her come back in for a second one.

Male Speaker:  I noticed that on one image there was a small abnormality.

Female Speaker:  I wasn’t really concerned that it was cancer because about four or five years ago, I had something show up on a mammogram and they called me back for a second mammogram and an ultrasound and it was fine nothing showed up on the second one. So I really expected that same thing to happen.

Male Speaker:  That was only on one image, it wasn’t on the other image.  And as usual we compared it with multiple different previous studies and it looked like it was new or needed to be evaluated further, so I flagged it for additional evaluation.

Female Speaker:  Dr. Keane read it and she found something that looked suspicious so she called me back.

Female Speaker:  I told her I was quite concerned about the lesion and that there was only one way to tell what was causing the lesion and that was to have a biopsy.

Male Speaker:  It’s very difficult for patients when they get called back for extra pictures and then it is like…it is even worse when they are called back to have a biopsy.

Female Speaker:  I have never had a breast biopsy before and Dr. Gerhard came in with a smile on his face and some kind words and talked about the procedure and what they would do.

Male Speaker:  I think its important when you do these procedures and you recognize these people are nervous is to try to think, “What would I say to my daughter, what would I say to my mother, what would I say to my wife if she was having this procedure?”

Female Speaker:  I think this is my role because this is what I do. I mean, I have always wanted to help people and helping them get through something that is this scary is something that I feel very fulfilled of doing.

Female Speaker:  Now, whether or not this is something they learn in their nurses’ training or this is something that premier health, promotes and encourages them to focus on, I don’t know how it happens but I do know how important it is to the patient.

Male Speaker:  It was difficult because [Indiscernible] [0:02:47] has been punched in the face, and trying to sit there and go on but still trying to figure out and talk to each other how we are going to do this.

Female Speaker:  Yeah, I think it was, like Jean said a punch in the gut that cancer has come into our lives.

Male Speaker:  We are identifying areas very small and very early that can be cured and so my first reaction is to be very positive.

Female Speaker:  What is important if you are diagnosed with cancer and I don’t care if it is breast or what kind of cancer, you have got to have good attitude – you are going beat this. You are going to beat this

Female Speaker:  The next step in the process was an appointment with Dr. Pearson with Dayton Physicians Network and she was going to be my radiologist.

Female Speaker:  Connie had many options available to her in regards for her treatment because it was very early stage.

Female Speaker:  She explained my options with radiation and she talked about direct breast radiation or brachytherapy.

Female Speaker:  We want to choose the best treatment for that particular individual and we want the treatment that will give them the best survival.

Female Speaker:  The beauty of the brachytherapy not only is it over with quickly, but as you receive these radiation treatments they don’t hit your skin to burn the skin, they don’t hit bones, the radiation doesn’t go through organs, it is just a direct path to where those cancer cells were.

Female Speaker:  The advantage for Connie in choosing partial breast irradiation with the balloon brachytherapy was that we could treat her with the radiation over five days.

Female Speaker:  12 days because of early detection and not skipping that mammogram, not delaying it, and having a very qualified and professional doctor at Miami Valley Hospital read those mammograms.

Female Speaker:  I try to do the best I can on every single patient. I try not to make shortcuts. I try to reinforce to the technologists, like in this particular case if you didn’t get back far enough we would have missed her cancer. Good work, keep it up. You have to do that on every single patient.

Male Speaker:  It was just four to four and a half millimeters and I still can’t believe that they actually found it.

Female Speaker:  It starts with imaging. It starts with having a screening mammogram at the age of 40 and continuing annually. That’s the best chance in detecting breast cancer at its earliest stage.

Female Speaker:  If you have a family history of breast cancer it is important to have it done even sooner, and your doctor can determine when you should have it done.

Male Speaker:  Don’t skip things that your doctor tells you to do. Have your mammograms, make sure you have your checkups, do the annual physicals, stay on top of things. If you don’t, it can sneak up on you. We were lucky.

Male Speaker:  Yes, I absolutely tell you love them every day because they could be gone tomorrow.