Dianne Mann
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This testimonial includes a description of this patient's actual medical results. Those results may not be typical or expected for the particular disease type described in this testimonial. For a compilation of outcomes for various disease types, including the type in this testimonial, please
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I thought that I was the picture of health. I had never missed a day of work and I exercised often. I was invincible. My health did not enter my mind. I went for all my yearly checkups and knew I was healthy. I acknowledged that God existed, but never really let Him come into my life on a daily basis.
Then, one day I stepped out of the shower and my husband and I noticed a lump on my left breast. I was going for my yearly thyroid checkup with my regular doctor the next day and thought nothing of it. My doctor sent me to a surgeon and ordered a mammogram. The results of the mammogram came back. I was to wait six months or a year for my next mammogram. Two weeks later, the surgeon did a biopsy. The pathology report misdiagnosed the cancer. After a long, holiday weekend, the surgeon called me at work and told me that the lump was malignant. He set me up for a full mastectomy based on the misdiagnosis of the pathology report. I sat at my desk for the next 45 minutes in shock. I was invincible. This could not be happening to me.
I was sent to an oncologist in Rapid City who took a blood test and lung X-ray. After three days of knowing I had cancer, this doctor smiled at my husband and said, "You found it too fast. I’m not going to get any money out of you." Both my husband and I were stunned.
What happened next was truly God coming back into my life and taking over. My husband was working on our neighbor's house. This neighbor owned a dog kennel. She was concerned about me and asked my husband if we had gone for a second opinion. We had not because we did not have a clue where to go or if we could even afford to go out of town. The kennel owner remembered she had a client coming in that day who had been to Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) at Southwestern Regional Medical Center (Southwestern) with his wife. He gave us the name and telephone number of an Oncology Information Specialist for the center.
On that Saturday, the center paged the specialist and my call was returned in 10 minutes. The next Tuesday, we were flown out to Southwestern. By Thursday, all tests were done, slides re-read and a valid pathology report was completed. The following Monday, a lumpectomy was performed. Tuesday I was back at home for recovery. I returned to Southwestern the next month for five weeks of radiation and brachytherapy radiation.
Today I am cancer free. I have learned to watch my diet, take the vitamins recommended and watch the amount of fat I eat. I have increased my daily fruit intake, as well. No chemotherapy has been required.
A vital part of my daily recovery from this disease has been to let God take control of my life. He showed me how to lean on my husband and how to let Him take care of the love relationship between me and my husband. God showed me that He can work out the finances and lighten the burdens caused by the disease. I don’t need to worry or try to work these out on my own. God also taught me that He can heal and if I have that faith He will place His healing hand on me.
God didn’t cause the disease or the complications, but he used the situation to make me see the true meaning of life and my role in it. Through this crisis, CTCA showed me that nutrition, exercise and a positive attitude can help bring you back to health.
