Survivor: Donna F. Watson (30)

Painted during TAC third painting session

"With Love"
16" x 20"
Acrylic on canvas

Donna's Story:

My Story – My Victory / Diagnosed October 24, 2008

My name is Donna Watson and I am a breast cancer survivor.

In May 2008, upon returning from Los Angeles after spending a few months taking care of my aunt before her passing, I noticed I had begun to experience tenderness in my left breast. That tenderness turned into a very noticeable pain. My first thought was that maybe I had pulled a muscle in my chest while caring for my aunt, or maybe I hurt myself somehow and just didn’t remember how. Or maybe I had drank too much coffee, although I only drank decaffeinated. I had never had pain in my breast in the past. My oldest sister, Sandra, had been diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in May 2007, so I was even more aware of changes in my breast what was normal for me.

It didn’t take long for my breast to begin to hurt to the point that I couldn’t stand to sleep without wearing a bra and it hurt pretty bad to take my bra off. Just turning from side to side would hurt and now my right breast had begun to have some tenderness.

I called my insurance provider and explained what I was feeling and asked the representative if it were okay if I got my annual mammogram earlier than my scheduled date. She said, it would be okay and that it didn’t matter which month I got it in the calendar year. Normally, I was scheduled to have my annual around the end of October to mid-November. After speaking with the insurance representative, I called my doctor and asked to be seen for my problem. My doctor was out of the office for a few days, but I agreed to be seen by his nurse practitioner, who examined both of my breasts. She examined my right breast first and to my surprise, it hurt me very bad and I could hardly lie still on the table. I had never had a painful breast exam before. While examining my right breast, she said she could feel a little something that concerned her. I told her that the left breast was the one that prompted me to call and ask to be checked. She continued to check it and said again that she could feel a little something there. Then, she examined my left breast. The left breast exam didn’t hurt as bad as the right breast did. She said, the left breast felt normal, but she would order a mammogram and ultrasound for both breast.

Every year, after my pap was done, my OBGYN scheduled my mammogram to be done at St. Joseph’s Imaging Center in Savannah, Georgia.

Anyway, on June 26, 2008, my wedding anniversary, I got the mammogram and ultrasound. The ultrasound did not reveal anything, and the mammogram technician said I shouldn’t worry about anything. However, when the radiologist viewed my film, he asked her to call me back to repeat two of the views. I got the message when I got home in Hinesville. I returned her call and returned the following morning around 10am.

The results were sent to my doctor’s office and I was asked to come in. When I went in the nurse told me that I had an abnormal result on my right breast and the doctor was referring me to a specialist and ordering a biopsy.

In mid-July, I had my first visit at the JC Lewis Cancer Pavilion in Savannah, Georgia. I took my film with me for the doctor to review. My girlfriend, Grace, went to the appointment with me for support.

I was examined and given an appointment to have a stereotactic biopsy at the Mary Telfair Pavilion at Candler Hospital. Lying on my stomach with my right breast hanging through a hole in the table, the nurse compressed my breast several times in search of the abnormal area. After several failed attempts to find the area by imaging, and getting me up and making additional mammogram film, then back to the hole in the table, the technician called the radiologist in to see if he could see anything.

The radiologist released me from the table’s grip and helped me sit up. He explained to me that because they were unable to find the area, he did not want to try to do the biopsy and take a chance on missing it and giving me a report with a false negative. He explained that if that happened, I could walk around with cancer with the belief that I was okay. He sent a report to my referring doctor at Lewis.

On my follow-up with the Lewis doctor, the doctor decided to recheck me in three months, which was in October of 2008.

In the meantime, the only other person I had spoken with about my situation and doctor visits was my daughter, Candace. I didn’t want to cause any alarm in my family, because a month and a half after my sister was diagnosed, her husband was diagnosed with stage 2b pancreatic cancer in July 2007; in November 2007, my mother’s other sister was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer and passed in December 2007; then in January 2008, my sister’s older son was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of 27. On April 30, 2008, my aunt in California died as I held her hand, and on October 11, 2008, my sister’s husband passed from pancreatic cancer. With so much going on in our family, I did not wish to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Our family had not had any cancer diagnoses since I was four years old and my grandfather [mother’s father] passed from brain cancer.

For about two weeks in October, I had been noticing that my right breast felt like it was getting heavier and that I could feel a hard ball of a sort pressing against the inner part of my right arm. I could feel it with my fingers and pressing on my arm when I lay on my back. I tried to convince myself that it was there all along or that maybe it was just fibrocystic breast tissue. My husband and I traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to attend my brother-in-law’s funeral and returned to Georgia on the 19th of October.

The next day, I stood in the mirror to shave under my arms. When I raised my arm, there it was, protruding out like a big lemon and I could see where it caused the skin to appear creased around the edges of the knot. I felt it and put my arm down and looked at it in a front view. Yes, it was there without a doubt. I was only a few more days out from my three month appointment, so I thought I would just wait and be seen then. The next day, while on my way to Savannah, I called my girlfriend and told her what I had discovered the day before. She immediately told me to hang up the phone and call the doctor’s office and tell them that I found it and needed to be seen. I did and the nurse told me to come to them right then and that she would pull my chart and get me into a room as soon as I arrived. There was only about 45 minutes left before they were to close for the evening.

I arrived, was put into an exam room, and was given the PINK paper vest to put on. The doctor came in and greeted me. She stood in front of me and looked and said she didn’t see anything different. Then she asked me to hold my arms up over my head. She looked and asked me to turn so she could see the side of my right breast.

She couldn’t believe it. There it was sticking out. She said, “Where did that come from?! That wasn’t there three months ago! You have a big nodule there.” She asked me to lay back and she examined it with her hands. She was so surprised. She said it was there alright and that she didn’t understand how it could grow that large so fast. She said since we can see it, she didn’t need to do another mammogram to find it. She asked me to walk across the hall to another room where she would do an ultrasound. She called a nurse in who began to do the ultrasound. I laid there and watched the screen as she measured this big area on the screen. The doctor said since we see it, feel it, and know exactly where it is, she would go ahead and do a biopsy right then. It seemed like so much was happening so fast. I was handed a clipboard, I signed the papers to have the biopsy, and before I had time to really think about what was about to happen, my breast was washed, instruments were laid out, and a big needle was quickly inserted into the area to numb it before doing the biopsy. Six tissue samples were taken that day. I was bandaged up, given another appointment, and sent on my way. This time, I didn’t ask Grace to meet me there because she was at work earlier when we spoke on the phone. She told me that she would have come if only I had called her.

My follow-up appointment for the biopsy results was the afternoon of October 24, 2008. The news I would get that day would change the rest of my life. It seemed like I waited forever for the doctor to come into the exam room.

Around 4:45 p.m., the doctor came in with chart in hand. She spoke and asked how I was doing. She placed the chart on the counter and looked at me and said, “We have a breast cancer and we have to decide on the best way to treat it.” She told me that she had taken six tissue samples and cancer was in all of them.

She said it was invasive Lobular carcinoma of the breast, infiltrating. She explained the surgery options to me and said that some cancers are removed by lumpectomy and some are removed by mastectomy. She said that I would probably require a radical mastectomy. That day, I was introduced to my oncology nurse navigator, Krista, who came in and spoke with me so compassionately. She gave me the green expandable folder containing all the literature along with her contact information. Krista was with me for nearly every test and surgery after that day. I was scheduled to have an MRI a few days later. So much happened so fast. Grace was there for my results. Next, I was scheduled to have a sentinel node biopsy and was scheduled to have a radical mastectomy on Thursday, November 6, 2008. Just as I was there for my sister and her husband, my sister was here with me for support along with my husband, daughter, and of course, my dear friend, Grace. Later, the decision was made to place a port in my chest and to treat me with 8 rounds of chemotherapy. When I met my oncology doctor for the first time, he asked me how did I know and how did I discover there was a problem. He told me that the pathology tests revealed that there were three tumors in my breast and that I was stage 1. During my treatments, I experienced a low white blood cell count, which caused me to become very ill and I was hospitalized for one week in February 2009. My last chemotherapy treatment was May 20, 2009. During my treatments, I also went to occupational therapy at Candler to get me right arm moving again. On August 20, 2009, I underwent a Tram Flap reconstruction and in December. On November 5, 2009, I underwent a left breast reduction. On January 28, 2010, my port was removed from my chest. Finally, on March 18, 2010, modifications were done to my reconstructed breast and abdominal scar.

I must say that I am blessed to share my story with you. People say that I don’t look like I’ve been sick a day in my life. When asked how I’m doing, I like to reply that I am GRATEFUL.

I currently am cancer-free and I now see my doctors every four months. My sister and her son are both now cancer-free and doing very well.

I praise God for revealing that there was a problem with my breast so that I could be taken care of by such gifted and wonderful doctors.