Oliver: Early detection key for breast cancer; facts, figures and personal experiences make that clear

Experience is the best teacher, or so the saying goes. Of course, that doesn’t apply to everything, because some things we’d rather avoid than go through. Breast cancer certainly is one of them.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and no doubt you’ll be seeing a lot of pink as advocates try to get the message out about getting those mammograms.

As someone who has gone through the breast cancer journey twice in five years, I echo that.

Here’s why: “Breast cancer typically has no symptoms when it is small and easily treated, which is why mammography screening is important for early detection.”

Those are the words of the American Cancer Society, but I can confirm them. I had no idea that anything was wrong until an alert nurse practitioner felt a lump in my right breast in 2019.

A small lump in the breast or in an underarm lymph node is the most common way to detect possible cancer. But there are others, including breast pain or heaviness; dimpling, swelling, thickening or redness; or nipple changes or discharge. Anything that doesn’t seem right should be checked by a doctor.

Then again, if you are anything like me, you’ll dismiss everything as an overactive imagination. So, it’s really important to get regular mammogram screenings.

That’s how my second breast cancer was detected, this time on my left side. An observant radiology oncologist spotted a change in my mammogram films from one year to the next. To say that I’m grateful that I have been diligent about these screenings would be an understatement.

According to the American Cancer Society’s “Breast Cancer Facts & Figures, 2024-2025″ report, I am included in the estimated 310,720 new invasive breast cancers and 56,500 cases of ductal carcinoma in situ that will be diagnosed among women in the United States this year. An additional 2,790 cases are expected to be diagnosed among men. (Read the entire report here.)

Sadly, 42,250 women are expected to die from breast cancer this year, as well as 530 men. Breast cancer is not something to dismiss or minimize.

The good news is that the rates of deaths from breast cancer have dropped by 44% since 1989.

“The encouraging news is breast cancer mortality rates continue to decrease thanks to advances in early detection and treatment,” Angela Giaquinto, associate scientist, cancer surveillance research at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the study, said in a news release. “But future progress may be thwarted by increasing incidence, especially among younger women, and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as delayed diagnosis due to interruptions in screening.”

That’s one more reason to get the word out. Since 1 in 8 of us women will experience breast cancer in our lifetimes, chances are we ourselves or someone we know will have to deal with it.

For me, once that mammogram anomaly was found, I was brought in for a second diagnostic mammogram to confirm the issue. Then I underwent a biopsy, which found that I did have more cancer.

I also underwent an MRI to determine if there was anything that was missed. This is important for me because I am one of the many women who have dense breasts. The American Cancer Society has been advocating to make MRIs part of routine screenings for those with dense breasts and to have insurance companies pay for them.

That first mammogram was in February. By the end of March, I had my first surgery, which removed most of the problem area. Another surgery at the beginning of May made sure that all the cancer was out, my surgeon getting better “margins” around the problem area.

Then it was radiation treatments, which I had done on the right side in 2019, on the left side during the month of July. Happily, I handled them well, and now I’m taking tamoxifen to prevent anything else from happening, or at least that is the plan.

Perhaps there was nothing that I could have done to prevent experiencing breast cancer twice in five years. However, I’m eternally grateful that everything was found early.

Please don’t wait to get your mammogram. Early detection just might save your life.

• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.