In honor of October being breast cancer awareness month, we
talked to local survivors about how they discovered the news, how
they reacted and what they’re doing now
It’s probably one of every woman’s worst nightmares: finding a lump in her breast. But finding a lump means something very different to women today than it did to women 25 or 30 years ago.
“What we’ve learned over the course of the last quarter century is in large part due to the women diagnosed with breast cancer 25 or 30 years ago,” said Dr. Susan Kutner, chair of Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Breast Health Task Force. “A core group of women about 25 years ago became advocates for their own health. They came to the medical community and said, ‘It’s great you’re treating this cancer, but do we really need to go through all this? Can we do less and get the same results? Can we fine-tune this process?’ Their advocacy pushed science, and because of that advocacy, women today have more advantages in their treatment.”
About 70 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer 25 years ago had a mastectomy, which means they had their entire breast removed. About 30 percent of women had a lumpectomy, which means they just had the growth removed from their breast. Today, Kutner said, those numbers are almost exactly reversed.
“Our techniques continue to improve all the time,” Kutner said. “Mammography has improved – we’re getting clearer pictures and better information with lower doses of radiation – and we have more tools available to us than ever before. We’re using ultrasounds to make a better diagnosis and we have ways of doing biopsies that are less invasive, without a big incision.”
Today, mammogram and self-exam advocacy mean doctors are more often catching breast cancer in the early stages rather than the late stages. Reconstruction surgery can be done at the time of a mastectomy. New drugs mean chemotherapy is more effective.
Several South Valley women have lived through the nightmare of finding a lump, going through treatment and have become today’s advocates, not only pushing science to find a cure for breast cancer, but pushing women to be champions of their own health.
Helen Leininger, Gilroy
resident, 36-year survivor
“It’s interesting, because it was 36 years ago that I was diagnosed, but in many ways, it’s so vivid, it was like just yesterday,” Leininger said. “I remember everything about that time very clearly. I remember the people, the feelings, the colors, everything.”
Leininger was 32 years old with three young children when she found a lump in her right breast while taking a shower. When she finished her shower, she called her doctor and made an appointment. At that time, she said, people didn’t talk about self-exams or breast cancer.
When she saw her doctor, he not only felt the lump in her right breast, he found two more in her left breast. But he said he wasn’t particularly concerned about these lumps, and that they would just “keep an eye on them.”
Six months later, a bout of viral pneumonia landed her in a different doctor’s office. The new doctor felt the lumps during a checkup and he immediately ordered a mammogram, handing Leininger a pamphlet on breast cancer.
“I remember that mammograms were so new that I didn’t even know what that was,” she said. “They certainly didn’t look anything like today’s mammograms, but I had one. It didn’t show anything, but the doctor decided to do a biopsy. He said, ‘If it’s something other than what we think it is, we’ll have to do the big operation. But if it’s what we think it is, we’ll just take out the lumps and it will be fine.’ When I woke up, I knew something major had happened. I said to my husband, ‘Bill, what did they take from me?'”
The doctor had done a radical mastectomy, removing her entire breast.
After the news sank in, Leininger said she didn’t remember shedding many tears, but she did remember feeling a lot of anger.
“I was angry at the doctor who had first seen me, felt the lump and then left it there,” she said. “If there were any tears, they were tears of rage and anger not because I had cancer, but because I’d done what I was supposed to do and someone else had dropped the ball.”
Following the mastectomy, Leininger had 18 sessions of radiation, which badly burned her skin. She also had a large scar. For the first nine years after the surgery, she wore a prosthetic breast.
In 1979, Leininger decided to discuss reconstructive surgery with a doctor. The doctor who had done the mastectomy didn’t leave much behind, and the scarring and burns from her experience didn’t make her a good candidate for reconstruction. But her doctor tried a revolutionary procedure, taking a lat muscle from her back and moving it to her chest so that a silicone implant would be supported. It took four painful surgeries over the course of one year, but Leininger ended up having two matching breasts again.
“It was a very painful process, but in the end it was thrilling – it was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself,” she said. “A little while later, I did a fashion show for the American Cancer Society. All the participants were survivors, and a lot of them had had mastectomies but not reconstruction. They were very curious about it, because it was such a new thing. They were shy at first, but very interested. They wanted to know how it looked and felt and if I was happy with it.”
Because radiation treatments hadn’t been perfected 36 years ago, the radiation Leininger underwent has led to serious health complications over the years. It has caused the deterioration of the discs in her neck, cancer of the esophagus and the need for a an aortic valve replacement in her heart.
“I think it’s important to share my experience with others,” Leininger said. “I had a very supportive husband and family, my friends were wonderful. There was so much support and affection, that I felt like in a way, I’d been given a gift. It’s a life-altering experience, but I think the message of my story is one of hope. There is life after breast cancer. Medicine is always moving forward.”
Dolores Skibbins, Hollister resident, 23-year survivor
A little more than 25 years ago, Skibbins was diagnosed with fibrocystic disorder, which caused her to have lumpier breasts than normal. One particular lump, though, caused some concern among her doctors and was eventually removed, though it proved to be benign. After that, she had yearly mammograms.
In 1983, when Skibbins was 56, one of those mammograms showed a lump in her left breast.
“I had two little cysts the size of a pea around the areola,” Skibbins said. “After a biopsy, the surgeon I saw suggested I have a mastectomy. I wanted to look into it a little further, so I talked to an oncologist, asked a bunch of questions, looked at the biopsy reports again, and then when I was satisfied it was the right thing to do, I decided I would go ahead with the mastectomy.”
After deciding to have her left breast removed, Skibbins said, she knew she would want to do reconstructive surgery. When she talked it over with her husband, Harry, he told her it was her decision but he didn’t have a preference.
“He said, ‘You don’t have to do this for me,'” Skibbins said. “But I said, ‘I’m not doing this for you, I’m doing it for me.’ And it was the best decision I ever made. They said I had to wait a year after the mastectomy to have the reconstruction, so I wore a prosthetic that first year. But it was OK because I knew I was going to have the implants done.”
During the mastectomy, surgeons removed 20 lymphnodes from under Skibbins’ arm. Three of the nodes had cancer in them, so, following the surgery, Skibbins had chemotherapy. She has had no recurrence of cancer.
“I still have my mammograms, and I talk to people about my experiences all the time,” Skibbins said. “A lot of them ask me if I regret my decision to have the mastectomy or to have reconstructive surgery. I tell them I don’t regret it, but you have to do what’s right for you. I also tell them to always get a second opinion or even a third.”
Today, Skibbins proudly sticks out her chest, noting that her breast looks like it was molded just for her. And it was.
“Right before I had the reconstruction, I told them, ‘Don’t make me look like Dolly Parton,'” she said, laughing. “I’ve had women who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer ask if they can see my chest or even feel it. I don’t mind at all. I know what it’s like to be where they are.”
When Skibbins and Harry’s oldest daughter was in her early 40s, she was diagnosed with an aggressive kind of breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy, radiation and a lumpectomy. Doctors say part of the reason she survived is because she found the lump herself and didn’t delay seeing a doctor.
“It was a very traumatic time when I had the surgery and was going through chemo,” Skibbins said. “Some days I felt so bad, and I was so down in the dumps. But I had faith in the Lord, I had my husband supporting me, and sometimes, I would read something or hear something and it was like God talking to me. Yes, I survived, and I was able to support my daughter when it was her turn to go through it.”
Skibbins said she encourages all women to take care of themselves and to be diligent about health issues.
“If you find a lump, don’t think it will just go away,” she said. “Go see your doctor. Have your exams, and have your mammograms. They can save your life.”
Ronnelle ‘Roni’ Vanderbilt, Hollister resident,
1-year survivor
“I’ve always had lumpy breasts, and they’ve always turned out to be cysts,” Vanderbilt said. “It was fall of 2002, and I woke up one morning, felt that I had a lump in my left breast, and I thought to myself, ‘I’m sure this is another cyst.'”
After a mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy all proved inconclusive, Vanderbilt’s doctor suggested she have a lumpectomy to be safe.
“When I woke up after the lumpectomy, I saw my mother and my husband, and they both had this face that said, ‘I don’t want to be the one to tell you,'” she said. “Their faces are what told me that there was a problem.”
Vanderbilt’s doctor told her the lump was cancer and explained she could either have a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. If she had a lumpectomy, they would have to do a second surgery to remove some lymphnodes. With a mastectomy, they would do both procedures at once.
“I decided I wanted to have a mastectomy – I thought it would be the safest way to go,” she said. “I wasn’t worried about having a boob any more. I was almost 60, I’d had my kids, I was married, so I wasn’t worried about going out and impressing a guy. The idea of a mastectomy didn’t bother me at all.”
So, Vanderbilt had a mastectomy. Doctors removed 19 lymphnodes, and seven had cancer in them. Because of the high number of cancerous lymphnodes, Vanderbilt’s doctors prescribed a regiment of radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
“Even though it did scare me a little when I heard that almost half my lymphnodes had cancer in them, I didn’t consider breast cancer to be a death sentence,” Vanderbilt said. “When I had my chemo, I didn’t get sick. I had some side effects from the radiation, and it gave me something like a sunburn because I’m so fair, but it was OK.”
When Vanderbilt’s treatments were completed, her doctors had her come in for checkups on a regular basis. In September of 2005, she felt a lump in her other breast in almost precisely the same location as the first. A mammogram and ultrasound later confirmed Vanderbilt’s suspicions. It wasn’t another cyst.
“When they told me they were going to go in, I told them, ‘If you test it and it’s cancer, just do another mastectomy while I’m out,'” she said. “And that’s just what they did. It was cancer, so they removed my breast. Shortly after that, I started chemo again. The first time I went out with the mastectomy, I was a little shy and self-conscious. The first time I went out without either of my breasts, I thought, ‘To heck with it.’ Because who cares?”
Within the last couple of months, Vanderbilt’s daughter, Cecelia, discovered a lump during a routine mammogram. The lump turned out benign, but doctors are keeping a close eye on her.
“If you find a lump, it’s OK – don’t panic,” Vanderbilt said. “I think it’s very important not to panic. Chemo is getting so good, they have all kinds of new medications, they can do reconstruction. So don’t panic. We’ve made so much progress. Women who had breast cancer 30 years ago had a much more scary prognosis because they didn’t know where they stood. Today, we have a much better idea of where we stand.”
– Do self-exams consistently around the same time every month. A week to 10 days after your period is best.
– Some women find it easier to do exams in the showers; others prefer to be lying down. Either way, it’s important to put the hand on the side of your body you’re examining over your head.
– Make sure to cover the entire breast area, starting near the armpit and working your way toward the center of the breast bone. Go all the way up, near the collar bone, and under your breast.
– Many women have naturally lumpy breasts. Get used to what a normal lump feels like. They tend to be smoother and can be moved around. When something is abnormal, it will feel hard, fixed and irregular. Something that dimples your skin or changes the shape of your breast is cause for concern.
