Part Two: The Mastectomy That Changed Her Life

This is the second of a four-part series about how breast cancer changed a woman's life. S.M. Jones is a former Wayne resident who still works in Radnor.

More pictures were taken and a short time later she was escorted into the reading room, which looked like something out of a photography studio.  X-Ray pictures all over the place and the radiologist standing there with the largest magnifying glass that she had ever seen.

“Hello, I’m doctor…,” at that point the doctor’s voice faded from her ears.  She was pointing to the mammogram which looked like a lot of cob-webs.  “This area right here is where we are looking.”  She said pointing to an area of total black.

“I don’t see anything.” She answered the doctor as she tried to focus.

“That’s correct; there should be something there to see.” The doctor moved the magnifying glass over so she could again see that nothing was there.

“We believe it might be a cyst, so we’d like to schedule a needle biopsy to make sure.”  With that the doctor turned to one of the nurses in the room with us.

“Can you schedule it and the follow up as well?”  The nurse was on the phone before the doctor finished speaking.

“She’ll take care of scheduling for you.”  She smiled and left the room.

A nurse handed her a prescription and a packet of paperwork explaining a needle biopsy.  The test was scheduled and she was told to follow up with a breast doctor for the results the following day.  The appointment time had already been scheduled.  None of this really bothered her yet.  She’s had many cysts checked in the past—but none ever in the breast.

She had the biopsy, and watched at the specimens that were being taken out of her were placed into a sterilized enclosed dish. 

The following day she walked into the doctor’s office.  It was an oncologist’s office.  She had no idea of why she was there, but was about to learn; the hard way.

As she entered the doctor’s office, he shook her hand and called her by name.  “Did anyone come with you?”  He asked as he glanced down the hall behind her.

“No.”  She responded as her nerves started to rise to the surface.  Her mind began to race.  Why was she here to get results?  She had always received phone calls before.  And why, did he want to know if anyone was with her?  By the time she sat down in the chair, the palms of her hands were damp.

He took out several pages of notes and then started drawing pictures on a plain white piece of paper.  He was very blunt and came right to the point.  This doctor did not beat around the bush.

“You have breast cancer.”  The words echoed in her mind.  Like a bell clangor hitting every spot imaginable in her head.  All she could do was gasp as the tears filled her eyes.