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Adair's Story

Portrait of Adair
Name: Adair
State: Minnesota
Date of diagnosis: 12/31/2014
Age at time of diagnosis: 50
Stage of diagnosis: Stage 4
NORMAL mammogram:

within 9 months
How was cancer diagnosed: Rib cage pain led to diagnosis

Adair's Story: I had a NORMAL mammogram in 2014. I received the post mammogram letter that reported, because of the recent Minnesota Density Reporting Law, that I had dense breast tissue, which I had known before BUT never knew its impact.

What I didn't know was that I had several tumors growing in both breasts, traveled to my lymph nodes and metastasized to my ovaries. What I didn't know was that the pain I was experiencing under my rib cage was NOT a gall bladder issue as my doctor thought, but metastatic lobular breast cancer traveling through my lymphatic system and slowly killing me. I didn't know that the swollen lymph nodes in my axilla, undetected by physician exam, were blocking the pleural fluid from around my lung and causing a slow pleural effusion.

I was a nurse, had a medical oncology background and never heard of the risks associated with dense breasts. I never had a physician discuss with me, post mammogram, the risks with dense breasts, especially the masking of cancer by mammogram.

I had ovarian debulking surgery in addition to a double mastectomy. Eleven lymph nodes were positive for cancer. I had twenty-four treatments of chemotherapy, along with 30 radiation treatments. I am on an aromatase inhibitor as my cancer is ER/PR +.

While having density reporting legislation is a first step in disclosing to the patient that she has dense breast tissue, health care providers must take the responsibility to discuss density and its impact with the patient.

Though I know the reality of my stage IV diagnosis is life threatening I am hopefully optimistic that being aggressive in my personal situation might get me a bit of time with my children 28,18, and 13.

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Are You Dense? Fact #1: Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.

Are You Dense? Fact #2: Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.

Are You Dense? Fact #3: Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.

Are You Dense? Fact #4: American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.

Are You Dense? Fact #5: While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.

Are You Dense? Fact #6: A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.

Are You Dense? Fact #7: Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.

Are You Dense? Fact #8: A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.

Are You Dense? Fact #9: Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.

Are You Dense? Fact #10: There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.