Inflammatory Breast Cancer Survivor

In December 2009, I noticed redness and swelling in my left breast. I made an appointment with my PCP. She put me on a round of antibiotics to treat Mastitis and scheduled me for follow up. She also told me she did not want to alarm me, but there was a form of cancer that mimicked mastitis. In a couple days, the swelling seemed to be going down, but then flared up again, this time worse. I was due to see my PCP on the 28th, but was scared (I had researched the cancer she was referring to) and did not want to wait. I went to the ER on Christmas Eve. They did an ultrasound of the breast. It appeared to be normal. I was given a round of stronger antibiotics and scheduled for a follow up ultrasound and appointment with the attending. At the follow up ultrasound appointment, the radiologist had concerns and issued a mammogram stat. She then requested that my surgeon do a biopsy. I started to get scared at that point because I knew what I could be dealing with.

I went in for the biopsy and got a call from my doctor on January 14, 2010 that the biopsy came back malignant. I had inflammatory breast cancer and it was HER2+. A double aggressive result. So, here I am 33 yrs old with 2 young daughters and a step daughter and now being told I have cancer. I was scheduled immediately with the oncologist and the plan was chemo, mastectomy, and radiation. I finshed 16 rounds of chemo on June 17, 2010 and had a double mastectomy (Inflammatory Breast Cancer is very aggressive) on August 13, 2010. Pathology results show that I can say I am cancer free. I still have to go through 28-36 radiation treatments as a precaution.