Maria DeSantis, 48, Churchville, Pa.
Wanted a specialized cancer center
I was doing a breast self-check in April 2003 and felt a lump. I went to a general surgeon. He ordered an ultrasound and saw something that made him suggest a lumpectomy, even if it was benign. They analyzed it after the operation. Six days later, I was driving home and he called on my cellphone: I had cancer. I pulled over and started to cry. He kept talking--it was stage 2; it was aggressive; I needed a mastectomy, maybe a double mastectomy.
That night my husband and I decided we needed a second opinion. On the American Cancer Society website, I saw breast-conserving therapy was possible. But when I asked my surgeon about it, he mock-shook me and said, "I hate the Internet! You're reading too much! Stop it!" I walked out of there and knew I wasn't coming back. A coworker told me about Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Two weeks later I was there. I saw a whole team of specialists--they just did cancer. I knew I was in the right place. They gave me tons of information and didn't hide anything. Their surgeon said the first guy hadn't removed all the tumor, so she wanted to operate again. A pathologist would be in the OR looking at the tissue, and if it looked clean, then I wouldn't need a mastectomy. She got it all.
This story appears in the November 8, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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