Sharing the Good News

Signe Bonnet Applauds the Technology and Multidisciplinary Care Team That Helped Her Beat Breast Cancer

By Julie Cerney, Methodist Health Connections, Fall 2006

“Seatbelts really do save lives,” says Signe Bonnet, 45, a systems analyst for Mutual of Omaha. “For me, they were an early warning about breast cancer.”

Last spring, Signe was enjoying a vacation trip with her niece, but not enjoying their long car ride. Signe soon felt unusual discomfort where the shoulder strap pressed against her chest. That evening, Signe performed a breast self-exam, carefully probing a tender spot on her right breast.

“I felt a pea-sized lump,” Signe remembers, “and I just knew it was cancer.”

Next Steps
The next morning, Signe called to schedule a checkup. Both her training and temperament impelled her to get the facts, analyze her options and quickly put the most effective plan into play. What she didn’t know then was that she would find the answers, medical technology, comprehensive care and caring treatment team she needed at Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center.

“My mother is a breast cancer survivor,” Signe explains. “She had a radical mastectomy in her late 50s, and she has struggled with lymphedema. My three sisters and I understand the importance of early detection and treatment.”

Signe’s mother had traveled to the Mayo Clinic for care. If Signe’s suspicions proved correct, she expected to do the same.

Search for Answers
Signe cut short her vacation, flying back for a short-notice appointment at her gynecologist’s office at Methodist
Physicians Clinic Women’s Center. Here she had CAD (computer-aided detection) mammograms taken that
highlighted the area of concern within the right breast. Next, radiologist Linda Sing, MD, performed a breast ultrasound, using sound waves to generate images that better identify abnormalities.

Signe’s first question for Dr. Sing was a direct one: Is it cancer?

“I so appreciated Dr. Sing’s frankness and compassion,” Signe remembers. “She told me that of the abnormalities she’d seen that looked like mine, all had been cancerous — and the biopsy that followed confirmed that mine was too.”

Dr. Sing made a recommendation that transformed Signe’s diagnosis and treatment. Current medical research, Dr. Sing knew, shows that approximately 10 percent of women diagnosed with cancer have an additional area of disease not visible by mammogram or ultrasound. To look for additional cancer sites and obtain the most complete picture of Signe’s disease, Dr. Sing recommended breast MRI.

Why Breast MRI?
“I had never heard of breast MRI,” Signe says, “but Dr. Sing explained that in my case there was good reason to take a closer look with this new technology, regardless of where I chose to go for treatment.”

As Dr. Sing explains, “Breast MRI is not a screening tool for the average woman. Compared to mammography and ultrasound, it is more time-consuming and expensive. Breast MRI also increases the likelihood of finding false positives — abnormalities that are proven benign with biopsy.”

Yet, as Dr. Sing told Signe, “Breast MRI offers increased sensitivity that can help identify additional disease not seen on the mammograms of women recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and help evaluate women at high risk of breast cancer, especially younger women with dense breast tissue. For these women, breast MRI can provide peace of mind before surgery that all cancer has been identified.”

Finding Her Team
Eager to gather all the information she could about her diagnosis and treatment options before arranging the trip to Rochester, Signe scheduled an appointment with surgical oncologist James Reilly, MD, medical director of clinical services of the Breast Care Center at Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center.

The Breast Care Center offers advanced, comprehensive, multidisciplinary treatment for all breast conditions. Team members represent all specialties, subspecialties and support services related to breast health. Program coordinator
Kathryn Simone, APRN, navigates each patient’s care, providing guidance every step of the way.

After Signe met Kathryn, Kathryn’s assistant Vicki Hough, MA, and Dr. Reilly, her plans changed.

“I knew the minute I met with them that they were my team,” Signe recalls. “They were all so understanding, so genuinely interested in my well-being and eager to answer all of my questions — and I had a lot. We met for well over an hour, and it was clear that the total care I needed was right here, close to home.”

Surgical alternatives were uppermost in Signe’s mind. Was lumpectomy the answer? Or could additional cancer be developing?

Breast MRI could help make that determination. Signe and Dr. Reilly reviewed the advantages and disadvantages, including the very real possibility of needless alarm over a false positive result.

More Cancer Revealed
The breast MRI, which Dr. Sing performed, revealed additional abnormalities that were too small to be seen by mammography or ultrasound. Multiple tiny satellite sites branched out from the tumor in Signe’s right breast — additional cancer a lumpectomy would have missed.

There was also a tiny lesion in Signe’s left breast. Biopsy results confirmed that it was cancerous too.

Bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation became the recommended course of treatment. On this, Signe and the members of her multidisciplinary Breast Care Center team agreed.

Signe’s “F Factor”
Throughout her treatment, Signe was struck by the amount of time physicians and staff shared with her, their willingness to accommodate her schedule and the convenience of having everything she needed at one location.

“I’d come for care, perhaps to a different floor on a different day, but I always received such wonderful support,” Signe says. “It would begin with encouragement from Clint, the van driver, and continue with bright smiles from Joyce and Ethel, the greeters at the door, to all of the doctors, nurses and staff. They helped me get through this and really did become my friends.”

The staff at Methodist Estabrook Cancer Center are part of what Signe calls her “F Factor” — the combination of family, faith, physicians and friends that helped her fight and win the battle against breast cancer.

Coming Forward
A very private person, Signe initially shared her diagnosis only with her closest friends and family. Many co-workers were stunned to learn, months afterward, that she had undergone cancer treatment. So why is Signe coming forward now?

“You don’t understand that it really can happen to you — until it does,” Signe explains. “I want others to see that breast cancer is treatable and survivable, and that this begins with regular breast self-exams and medical checkups. Women need to seek treatment early, understand the new options and realize that we do not have to leave our community to receive top-notch, one-stop care.”

For more information about the Methodist Breast Care Center, call (402) 354-5849.

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