Cancer Merry-go-round, Round II. The waiting begins

[Ms. Toad]

7. Prior cancer.

I was diagnosed early April 2016, had a partial mastectomy 5/24 and I completed radiation 8/24. I developed a symptom that is consistent with inflammatory breast cancer in late September (inverted nipple, that had never been inverted before, in the healthy breast). In ruling out inflammatory breast cancer, they discovered a new tumor with indeterminate characteristics (about half look like cancer & the other half look benign).

So this mamogram was symptom-driven, and the finding incidental (unrelated to the symptom). My mother's second primary cancer was similar. They were doing biopsies to figure out the source of bloody discharge and the biopsy captured a teeny tiny invasive cancer.

I think, as a general rule, they want to see me every 6 months for a few years - then shifting back to once a year.