Invasive Lobular Carcinoma: Liz's Survivor Story

What happened, in summary

Dr. Liz O’Riordan had spent 20 years treating breast cancer patients, but at 40 she became a patient herself. After a shower, she noticed a lump in her left cleavage and assumed it was a cyst. Her mammogram was normal, but ultrasound showed cancer. The diagnosis was mixed ductal and lobular breast cancer: the ductal tumor was about 5.5 cm, and the lobular cancer had grown in sheets through the breast. Liz stepped away from surgery to undergo chemotherapy, mastectomy, and radiation. Chemotherapy appeared to make the cancer disappear, but post-surgery pathology showed 13 cm of hidden disease and spread to lymph nodes, so radiotherapy was needed. Radiation later damaged her implant reconstruction by causing a hard capsule around it. As Liz prepared for surgery to remove the painful implant and go flat, she learned the scar tissue was actually a local recurrence: 2.5 cm of cancer on the chest wall, about 2.5 years after treatment. She later faced a second local recurrence. As of April 2026, Liz described herself as technically cancer-free because the recurrences were local and no metastatic disease was stated. She remained on lifelong monthly injection treatment, described as 2 large injections into both buttocks each month, to reduce the risk of metastatic disease while living with ongoing scanxiety.