Understanding Cancer Magazine
Learn to Win
The story of Violette
BY MARCIO ALVAREZ-SILVA
As soon as I met Mrs. Violette, we became great friends. She frequently visited a Cancer Treatment Center, located in the Cancer Hospital of her city, to monitor some nodules in the right breast. He told me that he had already removed a tumor from his left breast. She had discovered the nodule in February 2008 on a breast self-examination.
That same week, she consulted a doctor, who congratulated her on the speed with which she sought the necessary tests. Even though she was still very young, at the age of 33, Ms. Violette did not hesitate to seek all the medical resources she could to take care of her case. The doctor referred her to a gynecologist, who asked for an ultrasound and a mammogram. As the anxiety was great at that moment, Mrs. Violette had her exams done in a private clinic. The doctor who performed her ultrasound said that there was nothing too much in her breast and that calmed her down. When she picked up the results she was so calm with that statement that she only came back to show the gynecologist the results she had requested the exams four months after having the exams. Upon seeing the results, the gynecologist frowned and immediately did a biopsy, which at that moment left Mrs. Violette perplexed because she thought it was just an swelling, as had been suggested by the doctor who performed the ultrasound.
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After 10 days of the biopsy, when he went to get the result of the exam, the gynecologist had already prepared his referral to the Cancer Hospital of the city. According to the doctor himself, he should present himself on that same day to start all the complementary exams. After exactly 30 days, after having been admitted to the Cancer Hospital, he had already done all the necessary exams and removed the tumor from his right breast.
Only after the awareness of the severity of her case did Ms. Violette face her cancer diagnosis and did all the steps very seriously for the cure. She had a team totally committed to her case during the treatment at Hospital do Câncer. She was very grateful for having received so much support and affection during those 30 days, that according to her were the most difficult of her life, with all the uncertainties that the cancer patient has in this difficult time. As she had all the necessary psychological support in this period, she coped with the disease and did not hesitate to undergo the surgery. She was very grateful with all the affection and assistance she received at the Cancer Hospital.
Breast self-examination is important to detect the presence of nodules in its early stages.
Source: National Cancer Institute
She only regretted having waited so long to return to the doctor with the result of the ultrasound, because as a laywoman, she had been reassured with the information that there was nothing more serious, such as an edema. Fortunately the discovery of the tumor was at a very early stage and therefore, even with the 4 months elapsed since the preliminary examinations, she had time to have the appropriate treatment, preventing the disease from progressing.
In 2017 he had noticed some nodules in the right breast through the self-examination, and immediately sought to do all the necessary tests. She was always suspicious of any statement that could be an irrelevant nodule. She did numerous ultrasounds, MRI and biopsies. After 4 biopsies in both breasts, the results that made her happy were:
ALTERATION OF COLUMNAR CELLS WITHOUT ATYPIA, PSEUDOANGIOMATOUS HYPERPLASIA OF THE STROMA, ABSENCE OF NEOPLASTIC TISSUE IN THE SAMPLE.
Pseudoangiomatous stromal hyperplasia (PASH) is a microscopic lesion commonly found in breast biopsies, forming a slow-growing cell mass. It is a benign lesion, with no reported cases of malignant transformation. Most importantly, all biopsies confirmed the diagnosis and always without evidence of malignant cells.
Even with a first diagnosis in 2017, every year Mrs. Violette redoes all the necessary exams.
We talked in 2019 as she checked her latest results of the evolution of PASH, making the necessary controls.
After all, she had already removed a tumor from her right breast.
Mrs. Violette's history shows that we should run the necessary tests when she has any suspicion of a tumor. Regardless of whether the type of lesion is malignant or not, this should be defined by an oncologist, preferably in a Cancer Treatment Center, which can request many complementary tests so that there is no doubt. Always the results should be taken quickly to a specialist doctor so that there are never doubts about the diagnosis.
This care can save lives, as detection of the disease can occur in its early stages and thus achieve a cure.
This article was published in Understanding Cancer magazine, April 29, 2019.