Terri got a mammogram at the Intermountain Mobile Mammography Unit and she is glad she did.
By Dave Green
Terri had put off her mammogram screening for four years. She never felt a need because she didn’t have a lump, didn’t have a family history of breast cancer, and had no reason to think she’d be anything other than cancer free. When her work hosted the Intermountain Mobile Mammography Unit in its parking lot last February, Terri signed up.
“It was there. It was convenient. It would take 15 minutes,” Terri says. “I decided I could do that.”
After the screening, Terri waited for an “all clear” letter in the mail. Instead, she got a phone call asking her to come in and be rechecked. The follow-up screening looked suspicious and she was scheduled for a biopsy. Biopsy results showed Terri had ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), an early stage cancer that, left untreated, can progress to invasive breast cancer.
“It was crazy,” Terri says about getting the diagnosis. “I didn’t see it coming.”
Terri was immediately scheduled for surgery. Because the cancer hadn’t spread, she underwent a lumpectomy surgery that removes just the abnormal tissue, followed by reconstructive surgery. She’s now beginning a four-week regimen of radiation treatment that will decrease the chances of the cancer returning.
“I have hope because every specialist has felt very confident that it was caught so early,” Terri says. “This wouldn’t have been caught as early had there not been a [Mobile Mammography] trailer brought to our parking lot.”
Terri encourages others to schedule their mammogram screening. In fact, three of her friends and her sister have all been screened because of her experience.
“It’s worth the 15 minutes of inconvenience, regardless of the results,” she says. “It’s not fun, but it’s only 15 minutes.”