Shortly
after losing her husband to cancer, Lavaan Stutzman found herself in a fight of
her own when a routine mammogram revealed a malignant tumor. Six months later,
she discovered another tumor in her other breast during a monthly self-exam.
After defeating both rounds of breast cancer, she speaks glowingly of her experiences
as a patient at Abbott Northwestern's Piper Breast Center, a program of the Virginia
Piper Cancer Institute.
"My doctor and the Breast Center staff members were wonderful," Stutzman
said. "They really paid attention to my questions and concerns. And they
made an effort to create a caring environment where I felt at home."
At the Piper Breast Center, Stutzman benefited from a new procedure called a sentinel
lymph node biopsy, which is used to determine if breast cancer has spread to other
parts of the body.
This advanced biopsy technique requires the removal of only one lymph node, unlike
traditional diagnostic methods that require the removal of all of a patient’s
lymph nodes. The less extensive procedure spares many women from long-term
side effects.
"I really believe in what the program is doing," Stutzman said. "For me, it meant
a faster recovery time and fewer side effects. And the staff has given me so much,"
Stutzman said.
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Shortly
after losing her husband to cancer, Lavaan Stutzman found herself in a fight of
her own when a routine mammogram revealed a malignant tumor. Six months later,
she discovered another tumor in her other breast during a monthly self-exam.