When Meri Rametta went in for a routine mammogram in October last year, she expected it to be just that, routine. She hadn’t noticed any lumps in her breast, so felt she had nothing to worry about. So when she was called back and asked to come in and see a doctor, she was surprised. When they told her the mammogram had discovered a lump in her breast she was shocked.
“I wasn’t aware there was even a lump in my left breast. I was told by the breast surgeon that the mammogram had done its job by picking up the 2cm lump in my left breast,” she said. “I never would have felt the lump as it was not on the surface of the breast but at the back of my breast towards the muscle and my rib cage.”
So hidden was the lump that the surgeon told Meri he couldn’t even feel it and he knew what to look for. The lump was quickly removed, what followed was more bad news, Meri had stage three triple negative breast cancer.
“Luckily I had the mammogram when it was due. Even though the lump was not a big one it was a nasty and aggressive type of cancer,” Meri said.
Fortunately for Meri cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes, and there were no signs of cancer anywhere else in her body. It had spread a little into the surrounding tissue.
“If I had left it, it would have been more serious. I started chemotherapy to ensure there were no rogue cancer cells in my body. I am half way through the chemotherapy. I will also need to have a few weeks of radiation after the chemotherapy as another insurance policy.”
Meri’s advice to other women is simple, if you are scheduled to have a mammogram make it your number one priority, don’t put it off, it could save your life.
