Breast Cancer. Timing is everything.
This Billings wife and mother in the prime of her life goes in for a yearly mammogram and learns she has a tumor. It’s breast cancer. Her primary care doctor reassures her that the tumor looks small, operable, and lets her know what to expect. Fortunately, there’s a dedicated team of breast cancer specialists at Billings Clinic.
And, they opened a comprehensive new Cancer Center adjoining the Clinic and Hospital just after her diagnosis.
After a radiologist analyzes the breast MRI, Joan’s surgeon determines a breast-conserving lumpectomy is the best course of action. The surgery is a success. Her surgeon and medical oncologist conclude Joan has Stage 1 cancer. It’s invasive, but is small and has not yet spread. Together, they tell Joan chemotherapy is not in her future so it’s high-fives all around. Within hours, Joan and her doctors discuss a treatment plan of radiation therapy with minimal side effects, and hormone therapy. They personalize a plan that’s best for Joan and her family. The breast cancer patient care navigator is there to coordinate and explain the treatment plan.
A team of medical and radiation oncologists, surgeons, pathologists and radiologists then review and approve the plan at a Tumor Board meeting. Joan begins radiation treatment with a radiation oncologist and a team of radiation therapists she calls “the dream team” by her side every day. Within three months, she’s cancer-free.
If you ask Joan what she learned from her experience, she’ll tell you “timing is everything.” A mammogram caught her tumor early before it could spread. With the opening of the new Cancer Center, all of her doctors and treatments were conveniently located together, under one roof. And the new Cancer Center radiation therapy services meant the best of technology with fewer side effects.
Thanks to the timely opening of the new Cancer Center and everyone inside it (including Joan) doing the right thing at the right time, she’s not only cancer-free, she’s free to get back to living life.
