What happened, in summary

Patty Schone was 63 when a routine mammogram found an abnormality in her left breast. At first, she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, in that breast and was scheduled for a mastectomy. Because Patty had dense breast tissue, her surgeon ordered a bilateral MRI before surgery. That extra imaging found a more serious cancer in the other breast: Stage IB invasive lobular carcinoma in the right breast. Follow-up testing showed it had spread to a lymph node. Patty’s nursing background helped her ask questions, research carefully, and explain the diagnosis to her family, but the second finding was still emotionally overwhelming. Her treatment included a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction with expanders. She also received 16 radiation treatments to the right chest because of the lymph-node involvement. She now takes a daily hormone-therapy pill to help keep estrogen levels low, which can help slow growth or reduce the chance of recurrence for this type of invasive lobular cancer. Patty’s story is a reminder that dense breast tissue can make cancer harder to see on mammograms and that follow-up MRI can reveal disease that might otherwise be missed.