Charting A Course: Mammography, Mastectomy and Another Tumor Discovery

Editor's Note: This is a four-part series that will be posted every Monday in October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Read the first and second parts in the series.

Eight weeks into treatment, Rider says the "first and only mammogram in her life” was scheduled to see how her tumor was responding to chemotherapy. 

"The mammogram showed that there were calcifications in my left breast that were suspicious and needed additional testing,” she says, adding that she was going to have to make another hard decision.  "Some experts recommended minimal surgery to ensure we had clear margins around my initial tumor which would allow me to move on from treatment as quickly as possible. Others thought the best plan would be a complete mastectomy. If we went that route, I would have to decide if I wanted to have a double mastectomy and if I would want reconstruction.

"Dr. (Jaime) Lewis recommended that I have a needle biopsy to test suspicious spots that remained, which is a minimally invasive procedure that would remove a few cells to be tested for cancer and provide additional information to guide in decision making. Unfortunately, my biopsy results were positive.”

Rider decided to move forward with the double mastectomy, and on Dec. 29, 2014, during surgery, a second, 2.3 centimeter tumor was found in her left breast. 

"I was miserable the day after my surgery, but once I was out of recovery, the quality of care that I received was excellent,” she remembers. "I spent a lot of time in the hospital, and it’s a wonderful community. Lee Ann Liska, the president and CEO of UC Medical Center, even stopped in my room to check on my progress. Her visit was one of many moments that made me feel like I was in really good hands.”

Rider says Lewis, a breast surgeon and assistant professor within the UC College of Medicine, called her late the next day with the pathology report. 

"There was a tumor that we were not expecting, and one of my lymph nodes was positive for malignancy, meaning that cancer cells had spread outside of my chest area and that I could expect additional treatment,” she says. "The Tuesday after surgery, my medical chart and pathology slides were reviewed by the Tumor Board. The thought of a team of bright medical minds coming together to talk about my treatment offered hope. My job was to focus on recovering from surgery and slowly rebuilding my strength, and their job was to figure out the best treatment plan for moving forward.”