After my first breastfeeding, in June 2012, I noticed a flow of blood and lymph, and my breast was painful. My doctor and my gynecologist reassure me: it is linked to the end of breastfeeding.
A year and a half later, pregnant with my second child, the discharge persists. My gynecologist reassures me again: nothing abnormal on the ultrasound for a pregnant woman. My obstetrician tells me it will pass with time.
I prefer to believe them and I don’t talk about it anymore. The day I gave birth, the midwives were very surprised and offered me a sample. But my gynecologist refuses, despite their insistence.
Search the internet for a diagnosis
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After four months, I stopped breastfeeding my daughter, and my breast became very red and swollen. The GP thinks it’s an abscess and prescribes me antibiotics, to no avail. She ended up sending me to the emergency room, where an intern, after hours of waiting, gave me an ultrasound. She said to me: “I don’t see anything, but it’s quite worrying. This can be a consequence of breastfeeding, an autoimmune disease, or cancer. »
I leave with a prescription for a mammogram… And I do the thing you should never do: go online to find a diagnosis. When I come across the “inflammatory breast cancer“, all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and I’m very scared. I perform an emergency mammogram, but it is normal.
My gynecologist thinks it’s mastitis due to the end of breastfeeding and prescribes me antibiotics again. My breast continues to grow and turn red. I go back to see my obstetrician, also a breast surgeon. He also thinks it may be mastitis and suggests a new ultrasound. But I insisted so much that he finally agreed to perform a biopsy.
Medical wandering synonymous with loss of opportunity
The result came a few days later: inflammatory breast cancer. Everything happens very quickly. I undergo six sessions of chemotherapy, a mastectomy, radiotherapy, and I am put on hormone therapy and artificial menopause.
During these two years, I saw eight doctors, had four ultrasounds, x-rays, a mammo, received two antibiotic treatments… This time of medical wandering has caused a real loss of luck in my case: a year ago, I was diagnosed with bone metastases. I am now on anti-aromatases, a targeted therapy, and I underwent an oophorectomy.
Cancer in a young mother: unthinkable
I really resented the doctors and had a hard time trusting them again. But I also know that I am young, with a rare cancer, and for my obstetrician to tell me I had cancer when he had just given birth to me was probably unthinkable.
I think that my story had an impact on the caregivers who followed me and that it will help them to be more vigilant. And above all, to listen to their patients. Medicine is not an exact science and there is a large human element to take into account. We do not have the knowledge of doctors, but we have intimate knowledge of our body.
Turn Resentment into Action
Today, I choose my caregivers carefully, and it’s listening that makes the difference. People often say to me: “But why don’t you sue?» I don’t want to put my energy into a legal battle.
In 2017, I co-founded the Jeune & Rose association, to advance knowledge of cancer among young women. This commitment is an integral part of my therapy. Transforming resentment into action, continuing to move forward, that’s the most important thing.
Comments collected by Cécile Blaize and Laure Marsecaux
