Patient Stories
Connie Murray
My mammogram—my birthday present to myself that saved my life.
Connie Murray couldn't imagine life getting any more stressful that it already was. In 2007, she and Bill, her husband of 50 years, were in the middle of building their dream home—a home that they had worked hard for all their life. They were temporarily in a rental home and going through the normal stresses of building a home when life took a turn for the worse.
"I always, always, always get my annual mammogram and physical. I consider it my birthday present to myself each October," Connie says. " I remember not being worried—there was no history of breast cancer in my family. I had no concerns, no discomfort, no warning signs. After several weeks, the shocking results came back. The mammogram indicated some breast abnormalities and microcalcifications. After further testing and a stereotactic biopsy, I learned that the bi-rads indicated a rating of 4 on a scale of 0 to 6, with 6 being the most serious."
From that moment on, it was a blur. "I knew at my age, I didn't want to risk going through this again in 2, 5 or 10 years," Connie says. With six children, grandchildren and a husband who needed her, she made the difficult decision to have a mastectomy of her left breast. Dr. Yurcek, general surgeon at Grant Regional, asked Connie when she would be ready to go ahead with surgery and her response was, "Yesterday!" It was immediately scheduled and took place a week and a half later. Connie thought "Why wait longer and only cause yourself more worry and stress?" It was going to be for the best, so she just wanted to put it behind her.
The mastectomy and sentinel node biopsy was a success. Cancer did not spread to the lymph nodes, and Connie required no further treatment. It turned out to be a blessing that she chose to have the mastectomy, because more spots were present in the breast but had gone undetected at that stage.
At a time when some people would choose to further their treatment at a larger hospital, Connie felt very comfortable placing her trust in Grant Regional.
"I’ve always felt strongly about supporting our local hospital," Connie says. "The hospital staff was simply wonderful!"
Being a patient over the years—when her babies were born, having gallbladder surgery and having an appendectomy—Connie has seen the hospital transform into what she now calls a "five-star hotel".
"The surroundings are so comfortable and the staff took such tender care of me—and the food!" As someone who loves to cook and rarely eats at a restaurant, she says it was such a treat to be waited on and served meals and "that on the last day of my hospital stay, I even asked if I could stay just ‘til after one more lunch!"
Connie is now entering her third year being cancer-free. She continues to follow up with an oncologist, and she urges women to give themselves an important birthday present—a yearly mammogram!
