Thanks to the nudge of her primary care provider, Susan got her routine mammogram in January 2022 where she received some unexpected and unwelcome news: cancer. A month later, "on Valentine's Day, I had surgery to remove cancer. I'm lucky though. Not all women are." A preventive cancer screening saved Susan's life.
"The pandemic has disrupted our lives in so many ways. With all the focus on COVID for the last two years, many people have fallen out of the habit of getting preventive health care, or they've been afraid to go to the doctor or hospital – for everything from cholesterol checks to cancer screenings. Many health care centers weren’t even scheduling screenings.
Take mammograms - fewer women nation-wide have had them, and now when breast cancers are detected, they're more likely to be detected at a later stage. There was a National Public Radio (NPR) story in February [2021] where … they asked [Kathryn Gold] about a new study that found that prior to the pandemic, about 64% of breast cancer patients were diagnosed at Stage 1, but now that has dropped down to only about half.
Before the pandemic, there was a lot of questioning about whether there's too much cancer screening in the U.S. Now, I think, there's a renewed recognition of just how important it is. The good news about breast cancer is when its detected early, it can be cured, which is why we have so many women that are breast cancer survivors. However, when breast cancer is diagnosed late, it's a very different story. The treatment is much more aggressive. And, unfortunately, the percentage of women that will die goes up dramatically when the disease is diagnosed at a late stage.
How this is personal to me? I put off getting my mammogram during the pandemic, and even worse for a number of years before the pandemic. Finally, after some nudging by my doctor and the fact that they offered mammography in the same office, I finally gave in and got my mammogram scheduled during the first week of January [2022].
After additional imaging and a biopsy on the 25th, I got the call on January 27th that I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, or breast cancer. On Valentine’s Day, just over two weeks later on February 14th, I had surgery to remove the cancer. I’m lucky though. Not all women are. I was diagnosed at an early stage (Stage I) and all traces of my cancer were removed by my surgeon. They call it “clean around the margins”. As is the practice with this type of surgery, I had five lymph nodes removed and every one came back clean, or no cancer.
I know that I’m not the only one. The type of cancer that I have is the most common in women. There’s a chance that one in eight women in the U.S. will get breast cancer or about 255,000 in 2021. It’s rare in men, accounting for about 1% of breast cancer.
I offer up this personal information to encourage you to act. By working for the county, you have fantastic insurance, so schedule your annual screenings. Don’t fall out of the habit of getting routine preventive care, and if you’ve never had screenings, go schedule them. If you don’t, you could pay the heavy or ultimate price. If I had waited another couple of years to get my mammogram, my diagnosis would have, perhaps, been terminal. Screenings save lives.
The NPR story also noted from one of the largest studies reported, using a huge medical record database, found a decline in screenings for four cancers - colon, lung, prostate and bladder. For instance, compared to pre-pandemic levels, colonoscopies, the keyway to detect colon cancer, dropped off by 45% initially. So, this isn’t just about women and breast cancer, it’s about all kinds of cancer screenings.
It’s going to take a long time to heal from my experience but I’m grateful that I’m here to tell about it. Life is fragile and no one is guaranteed a tomorrow, so make the best of life while you can."