How My Grandmother Survived Stage 3 Breast Cancer and What It Taught Me
We may be in the middle of a pandemic and an economic crisis. And the month may not be October. But you know, what? I have a story I want to tell.
It’s about how my grandmother survived stage 3 breast cancer and the lessons I took from it. Here’s the rundown:
The Diagnosis
Everyone was minding their own business, until it all came crashing down.
A Routine Mammogram
During her mid-50s, my grandmother got her first mammogram. Since then, she started getting them every year, as per the cancer screening guidelines for women 55 and older.
But then she got complacent. She was around 67 years old when she stopped getting her yearly mammogram. She was busy caring for my grandfather, who was battling colon cancer, so she didn’t have much time to take care of herself.
When she turned 69 in 2017 — months after my grandfather died— she went for a mammogram in October.
If you’ve been to the doctor for any type of routine testing, you probably know that no call back means good news. Unfortunately, she did get a call back. It was the radiologist. He told her that the mammogram was abnormal.
As you can imagine, we were all worried. But my grandmother was optimistic. After all, most abnormal findings on a mammogram aren’t breast cancer.
For most women, follow-up tests either show a benign (non-cancerous) breast condition or just normal breast tissue. In the U.S., only 10% to 12% of women are called back after a mammogram for more tests. So we tried our best to think positive.
Days Leading Up to the Devastating Call
The radiologist informed my grandmother that they would do a follow-up mammogram, also known as a diagnostic mammogram. This mammogram would include even more images of the breast. The results were the same: abnormal.
They then recommended a biopsy. A doctor would remove some of her breast tissue and study the cells under a microscope to see if cancer was present.
She came back from her biopsy a little defeated. She was still upbeat, but she started to realize there was a chance that she indeed had cancer. She put her faith in God, trusting that even if she did have cancer, it wasn’t a death sentence.
The Devastating Call
The next few days waiting on the biopsy results were grueling. I could barely think about anything else but the results.
Again, most of the time, no news is good news. But there was news. My grandmother told all of us what they found. The young lady she spoke with on the phone was hesitant.
My grandmother could hear the remorse in the woman’s voice. That’s when she knew. Before the woman spoke the words, my grandmother knew she had tested positive for breast cancer. They found a malignant tumor in her left breast.
That was devastating news in and of itself. But that wasn’t all. She had stage 3 breast cancer. The cancer had spread to five lymph nodes under her arm. Stage 3 is pretty advanced, but she had treatment options. Plus, the doctors detected it before it progressed to stage 4.
Stage 4 breast cancer is metastatic, meaning the cancer spreads beyond the breast and underarm to other parts of the body, including the bones, brain, lungs, or liver.
Metastatic breast cancer is more aggressive and challenging to treat. Had my grandmother waited longer for a mammogram, her cancer could have progressed to stage 4.
Seeing the Oncologist
After my grandmother received her diagnosis, she was instructed to follow up with an oncologist. Her oncologist recommended three treatments.
The Treatment
Breast cancer’s not an automatic death sentence, but it’s not a cakewalk either.
Chemotherapy
My grandmother’s oncologist recommended that she undergo 14 rounds of chemotherapy over four months. She’d get four rounds of chemotherapy with a drug called Doxorubicin, known for its distinctive bright red color.
Then, she’d get 10 rounds with a weaker drug, Taxol, which was a bit more gentle on the body. A surgeon installed a port in her chest where the medicine — or as people like to call poison — would enter her body.
She had to go to the hospital every two weeks to get treatment until the chemo cycle was over. She had to wait one to two weeks for her body to regroup before getting the next cycle.
The first rounds of chemo with Doxorubicin were brutal for her. She could barely get out of bed. She always had issues with her stomach. It was hard seeing her like that, but she persevered.
Then, came the second drug, Taxol. She seemed to take that one much better, although she still had low energy and started developing mouth sores.
Radiation
After chemo, my grandmother underwent radiation to kill any remaining cancer cells. She had to go to the radiation center five days a week (Monday through Friday) for three months.
Other than extreme fatigue and burns she’d often get on her chest, my grandmother got through radiation without a hitch.
After radiation, tests found that her cancer was stable. But that didn’t mean she was home free.
Of course, we celebrated, rejoiced, and thanked God for her recovery.
However, we knew that given her genes (six other family members had cancer, two of which had a breast cancer diagnosis) and the aggressiveness of her cancer, there’s always a possibility of it coming back.
Hormone Therapy
The doctors determined that hormones fueled her cancer cells. Her cancer was HR positive and HER2 negative, meaning the cancer cells have receptors that allow them to use estrogen to grow.
That’s why she received anti-estrogen hormone therapy after treatment with chemotherapy and radiation. Her oncologist prescribed her a hormone blocker to block the growth of the cancer cells.
The Aftermath
Today, as of 2020, my grandmother still takes the hormone blocker. She gets random hot flashes. But she’ll take temporary discomfort over long-term pain from a potentially deadly disease any day.
The Lessons I Took From My Grandmother’s Diagnosis
Like most people, I’ve about breast cancer, the different prognoses, and treatment options. But I never entertained the thought of me or anyone in my family having it. Here are a few things I learned about the disease after my grandmother’s diagnosis.
Younger women can get breast cancer, too.
My grandmother’s diagnosis prompted me to do more research about breast cancer. I learned that anyone can have it at any age. So even at 24 years old, I’m not exempt from breast cancer.
In fact, I’m not exempt from anything. I learned that diagnosing breast cancer in women younger than 40 is more complicated, and by the time a doctor discovers a lump, the cancer is often already advanced.
Breast cancer in younger women is often more aggressive and less likely to respond to treatment. Being diagnosed with breast cancer young usually occurs because there’s a genetic mutation causing a predisposition to breast cancer.
Because I have a family history in breast cancer that may suggest a hereditary predisposition for the disease, I may need genetic counseling soon.
But for now, I’m doing what I know I can control to reduce my breast cancer risk, such as:
- Maintaining an ideal body weight
- Limiting alcohol consumption
- Getting regular exercise
- Breastfeeding (a near two-year-old)
Breast awareness is vital.
While there’s no guarantee I can avoid breast cancer altogether, boosting chances of early detection is possible.
Being aware of my body and detecting even the smallest change is extremely important.
Whether I notice lumps, nipple discharge, focal pain, or skin changes, I need to be on top of it and see a doctor as soon as possible.
Self-care and health-consciousness are critical.
When my grandmother was by her sick husband’s bedside in 2016, she could’ve been going about life with breast cancer and not have known it.
She was at the hospital every other day checking on my grandfather, making sure the nurses and doctors were treating him right. She was so invested in supporting her husband that she forgot to look after her own health.
Had she kept getting regular mammograms, who knows what her outcome would be? Maybe the cancer wouldn’t have spread to the lymph nodes under her arm. Perhaps treatment would’ve been less complicated.
Even if she did have the same outcome, her experience taught me a lesson. It taught me the importance of self-care.
With two rambunctious toddlers, it can be easy for me to forget to take care of myself.
But now I’m more conscious about making doctor appointments for me (not just them), taking time for myself to de-stress, and reading up on the latest health news and findings.
High levels of certain hormones can cause the overgrowth of cancerous cells.
Even though scientists don’t know the exact causes of breast cancer, they can agree that hormonal factors play a role. For example, a woman’s ovaries produce estrogen and progesterone.
Let’s say a woman had long-term exposure to these hormones and/or her body produced high levels of these hormones. Long-term exposure could be due to starting menstruation early, going through menopause late, or being older at first pregnancy. These factors can increase the risk of breast cancer.
Breast cancer diagnoses vary.
You might’ve heard that many women experience pain in one or more of their breasts. You might’ve heard the advice to check your breasts regularly for lumps. My grandmother had no symptoms. As a retired registered nurse, she knew how to perform a breast exam. But she felt no lumps.
So if it wasn’t for that mammogram, she probably wouldn’t have known she had breast cancer, maybe until it was too late. Thanks to the mammogram, her doctors were able to catch it in time for effective treatment.
Moving Forward
I didn’t tell this story to spread the message that it’s possible to survive breast cancer.
That’s obvious.
I’m telling this story because I realized how oblivious I was to the fragility of life before my grandmother’s diagnosis.
I realized how I took life for granted in general. But that was the old me.
I want people to be more aware of their health and in tune with their bodies. But then again, I want to remind people that things aren’t always in your control.
I want women (and men) to know that you don’t have to be my grandmother’s age to have breast cancer. You don’t have to have symptoms to get a breast cancer diagnosis.
You don’t have to be in bad health to be at risk for breast cancer. You can be in the best of health, live the happiest life, and have the biggest heart, and still have breast cancer.
And that uncertainty and unexpectedness is what scares me. It scares me to live life to the fullest. It scares me to love and love hard. But most importantly, it scares me to be the best person I can be because tomorrow is promised to no one.
