I was diagnosed with breast cancer in September of 2022, five months after my daughter was born and the day before my 37th birthday. Initially when I had my consultation with my surgeon and oncologist I was devastated about the news, but still hopeful. My surgeon told me I had “ECBC” early and curable breast cancer. My oncologist mentioned I was in clinical stage 1. However, my cancer was aggressive and my tumor grew quickly in the span of three months. After my right mastectomy and axillary lymph node dissection, I was told I was at high risk stage 3a and it was recommended for me to do chemotherapy, radiation therapy and adjuvant endocrine therapy.
I didn’t have a PET scan until after I had already started chemo. During my second chemo cycle, I was told there were changes to my liver from the PET scan results and it was recommended that I get a second opinion at a specialty hospital. I was originally going to do 5-6 weeks of radiation, but ended up doing a more intense four weeks because I was waiting on follow-up PET scan results regarding my liver. He said just in case I needed to do more systemic treatment like chemotherapy again, I would be on the tail end of my radiation therapy. It was confusing because my previous oncologist gave me my follow-up PET scan results and pretty much told me the cancer got treated with chemo and the lesions were less bright from the PET scan. I shared the news with my radiation oncologist, but he still wanted me to get the second opinion. In July of 2023, I went in for that second opinion appointment and found out that I actually had stage IV breast cancer because it had metastasized to my liver. She explained my radiation oncologist wanted me to get a second opinion because he knew something was “off” from my charts, but didn’t have enough medical oncology knowledge. Also, I found out that I received suboptimal cancer care and ultimately my previous oncologist was only focusing on my breast, but not my liver too. The whole time, I thought my liver was fine after going over my follow-up PET scan results. I may have not even had to go through chemotherapy because it’s a different treatment plan, given I was stage IV. I’ve been permanently physically, mentally, and emotionally damaged and traumatized with the misdiagnosis and hearing the words, “you are treatable, but not curable.”
Trina’s LifeList:
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Trip with her family