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I visited St. Vincent Breast Health Center this morning. The center is the recipient of the Key to the Cure funds raised by the Saks in Indianapolis. Dr. Schmidt is the breast surgeon and a force behind the creation of this center. I met Dr. Schmidt briefly and I asked him, what one thing would you want me to communicate to women? Here’s what he said:

“We really don’t know what causes cancer and we don’t have a cure so our best defense is early detection, and the best way to do that is with an annual mammogram. It is the surest way, the one intervention we can do that gives the broadest sweep to catch breast cancer.”

Dr. Schmidt went on to say that women are great communicators. He tells all his cancer patients “you will save someone else’s life.” He believes that by their sharing their experience it prompts other women to get a mammogram.  “Early detection is our best protection.” He then added however that 10% of cancers are missed by a mammogram so a self exam is important too.

Julie Schnieders, MSN, NP and Dr. R. Thomas Schmidt, Breast Surgeon, at St. Vincent Breast Health Center

Julie Schnieders is a big advocate of the breast self exam (BSE). Julie is an NP at the Breast Health Center. Julie is responsible for conducting the risk assessment for the patients. This is done by utilizing The Hughes Risk Application Program. It’s a computer program that asks many questions of the patient and then calculates their risk of certain cancers. This information then helps shape the patient’s breast health plan. Every time a patient visits, the risk assessment will come up on the computer as an aid to the attending physician. It is updated regularly with any relevant information about the patient and her family.

Julie was kind enough to punch my information into the program. The program looks at your personal health history and also that of your parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. By imputing information like family cancer incidents, what type, age of diagnosis, and survival, the program calculates your risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer in 5 years, and in your lifetime. My risk for breast cancer in my lifetime came out to be 10.65%. For ovarian cancer it was less than 2%. However, these percentages can increase as your health and that of your relatives changes, and as you age. What you realize when you try to answer the questions, or at least I did, was how little you may know about the health of your relatives. For example, I know my uncle died of cancer, but I actually don’t know what kind. Growing up my parents didn’t share family illnesses with us. It was something that was kept quiet, probably not to worry us. But I also think that years ago cancer just wasn’t talked about like it is today. Seriously, 25 years ago I don’t think people often said the word breast in public unless they were ordering chicken.  I left making a note to find out more about my family health history and have my risk analysis updated accordingly.

Donna Conner, Breast Cancer Survivor

That’s Donna Conner. Donna, who works in distribution at Saks, is a ball of energy. Her co-workers say she runs circles around them. While not at work, she keeps busy designing and making clothes. I got the sense that the thirty minutes we spent talking was a long time for her to be sitting still.

Donna was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. Donna had lumps in her breast before and they had always turned out to be cysts. When she felt a new lump, shortly after moving to Indianapolis, she assumed it was just another cyst. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

When she found out it was breast cancer Donna said she wasn’t a good patient. “No, no, no, no,” she cried, not wanting to hear it. Her daughter stepped in and their roles reversed a bit, with her daughter telling Donna what she needed to do. Donna had a mastectomy followed by nearly three months of radiation, five days a week. Donna tells me that during radiation she again wasn’t a good patient. She explained that she would cry a lot and ask the Lord, “why, why.” I didn’t sound like being a bad patient to me. It just sounded human.

Now a two year survivor, Donna says she is “a more caring person, more understanding of what people go through.” She does what she can to help others. Donna said she doesn’t have a lot of money right now, but when she’s a bit better off she is going to give back to St. Vincent Hospital. Although Donna had insurance, it only paid 80% and “80% is not enough when you have breast cancer.” Donna paid what she could via a payment plan, but eventually the money ran out. Then one day she received a bill and it had a zero balance. “Halleluiah, praise the Lord!” was her response. St.Vincent Hospital had begun paying her bills.

I mentioned to Donna that Dr. Schmidt believes cancer survivors share their stories and by doing so save other’s lives. Donna thought this belief rang true. Donna told me of a cleaning lady at work that upon learning of Donna’s cancer confided in her that she had a lump. Donna encouraged her to “get it checked out.” One week later, Donna made a point to follow up with her. “Yes. I go.” She replied. “Everything is OK.”

Donna has learned that it’s good to talk about her cancer for other reasons too. “The more you talk about it, the more you can accept it and then get on with your life.”