It matters...
That you know what to expectIndia
Find out how India's life has improved...
India remembers the precise day and time she discovered her cancer: March 17, 2:00 a.m., 2010. That’s the date she discovered a hard mass the size of a golf ball in her left breast.
Terrified by what she’d found, India woke up her husband and teenage daughter to ask their advice. No question for either of them. “Call the doctor, NOW!”
Exhausting Ordeal
It’s been a painful, exhausting ordeal. “I don’t remember now how I was able to get up, take care of the kids, or even take a shower, I was so nauseated and weak all the time.” She says her theme song during that period was “If I Ever Feel Better,” by Phoenix:
It’s like a bad day that never ends
I feel the chaos around me
A thing I don’t try to deny
I’d better learn to accept that
There are things in my life I can’t control
Life Has Definitely Improved
Now, roughly two years later, she says life has definitely improved. “Things are getting better every day. My kids kept me going. My kids and my husband and my grandson, Mr. Harvey Blue.” Everyone at the breast center knows Harvey Blue, who often accompanies his grandma on her follow-up visits.
Read Other Stories
India remembers the precise day and time she discovered her cancer: March 17, 2:00 a.m., 2010. That’s the date she discovered a hard mass the size of a golf ball in her left breast.
Terrified by what she’d found, India woke up her husband and teenage daughter to ask their advice. No question for either of them. “Call the doctor, NOW!”
At the Breast Center Very Next Day to Check Golf Ball-Sized Mass
India waited until morning to make the call and was fortunate to get a same-day appointment. Her doctor, Paul Barnett, M.D., of the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority Clinic, advised her to seek diagnostic imaging as soon as possible from the recently opened Carol Milgard Breast Center. She was able to get in the following day.Breast Center & Staff Were “Amazing”
A series of quick-succession exams followed: mammograms, ultrasounds and biopsies. The process was numbing, she says. But the breast center and its staff were “amazing,” she adds. “Everyone was so great to me . . . It calmed me and helped me get through it.”Aggressive Cancer Diagnosis
Ultimately, India’s worst fears were confirmed: a diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma. The aggressive cancer was growing fast and therapy had to start almost immediately. The recommended treatment: double radical mastectomy.Exhausting Ordeal
It’s been a painful, exhausting ordeal. “I don’t remember now how I was able to get up, take care of the kids, or even take a shower, I was so nauseated and weak all the time.” She says her theme song during that period was “If I Ever Feel Better,” by Phoenix:
It’s like a bad day that never ends
I feel the chaos around me
A thing I don’t try to deny
I’d better learn to accept that
There are things in my life I can’t control
Life Has Definitely Improved
Now, roughly two years later, she says life has definitely improved. “Things are getting better every day. My kids kept me going. My kids and my husband and my grandson, Mr. Harvey Blue.” Everyone at the breast center knows Harvey Blue, who often accompanies his grandma on her follow-up visits.