What happened, in summary

Jessica, a pediatrician in Houston, was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma at 43. In early 2024, she had menstrual changes and left nipple pain, and her primary care doctor ordered blood work, a mammogram, and diagnostic ultrasound. A March 25 mammogram showed that her right breast looked abnormal, even though her prior mammograms had been normal and the left breast pain did not turn out to be cancer. Biopsies and MRI confirmed right-breast ILC by April 8. MRI showed disease extending close to the chest wall but not into muscle or lymph nodes. On April 26, Jessica had a bilateral mastectomy with reconstruction. Final pathology showed T3N0 Stage IB ILC, a 6 cm mass, negative lymph nodes, negative margins, the closest margin 0.1 mm from the chest wall, an Oncotype DX score of 19, and an RSClin recurrence risk of 19%. Chemotherapy was not recommended, and a second opinion agreed the benefit would likely be very small. As of July 2024, Jessica’s treatment plan included 5 weeks of radiation, Zoladex injections every 28 days, and an aromatase inhibitor for 10 years of hormone suppression, with planned ovarian removal and hysterectomy because of family history.