Woman's Life Saved by Routine Mammogram: Carole McGivern's Treatment Story

Aboard a trampoline-turned-ship, Carole McGivern fishes with her great nephew and great niece. Four-year-old Grey pulls in an imaginary tuna and octopus out of the ocean of grass while his one-year-old sister, Sienna, acts as sous-chef, helping McGivern chop it up for a play-acting feast.

McGivern babysits Grey and Sienna every Thursday. A routine she's grateful she didn't have to give up once a January mammogram revealed she had cancer.

"I was shocked, speechless. My husband was too, my children, we just didn't know what to expect. What's going to happen. My daughter's getting married this year, and it's like, 'am I going to be there?'"

McGivern has no breast cancer in her family, nor does she carry the genes that increase her risk for breast cancer. Regardless, she went to her annual mammograms faithfully. Thanks to her diligence, the cancer was caught early.

McGivern was consistent with self-exams and checked herself for lumps or bumps but didn't know a dimple could also be a sign. She didn't think anything of it but the mammography technologist knew what it was and got her started immediately on the next steps.

"I ended up having an awesome care team. I have to say at St. James, they were all wonderful. Took really good care of me. Really. Some of them went above and beyond," said McGivern.

The first part of the process would be to meet with Jodi Lubick, the oncology patient navigator at Intermountain Health St. James Hospital. The patient navigator's role is to assist the patient through the multiple steps, including getting tissue samples taken for a biopsy.

Radiologist Dr. Justin Clark collected several samples, as there were two different masses. Once the results came back Lubick assisted McGivern in making an appointment with Dr. Marwan Massouh, a medical oncologist in the St. James Cancer Center, so that she could learn the details of her diagnosis.

Lubick then assisted with getting a lumpectomy procedure scheduled and once it was performed McGivern then returned to the St. James Cancer Center for six weeks of treatment with radiation oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Gilroy.

"Carol had kind of an interesting case," said Dr. Gilroy. "Her biopsy led us to some different things, causing the need to do an MRI scan. In fact, we ended up finding a larger tumor than sometimes we do when people are doing their yearly mammograms."

McGivern had a T2 tumor, which is a staging term that indicates the tumor has grown into the muscular proprietary, or muscle layer, of a tissue, but it was fortunately found to not have any lymph nodes involved. It was a slow growing tumor, which might be why it wasn't found on mammograms the year prior.

After she had her lump removed and the lymph nodes sampled, McGivern's Oncotype DX test - a lab test that helps predict the likelihood of breast cancer returning or spreading - showed that she did not need chemotherapy. She would only need radiation therapy, which she was able to do at St. James.

"Years ago, we would've always recommended chemotherapy for her tumor size. As we've gotten better and better with breast cancer, we've identified significant genes in people's tumor DNA that tells us whether they really need the use of chemotherapy along with radiation," said Dr. Gilroy.

McGivern says the radiation treatments are an experience. She said the treatment itself isn't very long, but during the treatment you are required to hold your breath, and she was nervous that it might cause complications with her heart.

"It takes longer to get undressed, almost, and get in your gown than it does to have the treatment. But they were all just wonderful to me. I mean, they talked to me through the whole thing and gave me all the creams because you get burned. I had a lot of great people in my network - friends that brought me special gifts and lotions and ointments and we got through it."

"Carole's been a fantastic patient. She's had quite a few hoops to jump through as her case wasn't completely what I would call normal ... her initial process to get to me was a little bit different journey than some women, and she was just a fantastic patient through all of this," said Dr. Gilroy.

Dr. Gilroy and McGivern both stress the importance of getting a yearly mammogram - to all women over the age of 40.

They also both emphasized how fortunate it is to have a place like the St. James Cancer Center.

"It's very nice being a part of a small, close knit community cancer center like we have here at St. James. I am across the hall from the medical oncologist, patients who need chemotherapy receive chemotherapy down the hall. [Radiation] can see them on the same day," said Dr. Gilroy.

"It was so wonderful to be able to just stay home and still be able to take care of [my great-niece and great-nephew] and take care of my own family and to not have to travel for treatment," said McGivern.

To schedule your mammogram, visit sjh-mt.org/mammography.