I spent yesterday in the hospital having the first round of tests for a problem in my breast. Something’s weird with it and I needed to get it checked out. Next Monday I am going back for a biopsy. It’s most likely something trivial but if it’s not then I know I am already in good hands. So when WhyMommy emailed me asking if I would re-post her post about ibc I was more than happy to oblige. Because, as she says, early detection is critical. And her experience might just help someone else.

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As moms, you and I have a lot in common. We love our kids. We hug them. We feed them. We teach them. We probably have something else in common too – six weeks ago, neither of us had ever really thought about breast cancer.

Oh sure, we have our annual pap smears and do breast self-exams when we remember to, but we’re young yet. We have little kids. We’ve been pregnant and/or breastfeeding a lot lately, and that protects us from cancer. Right? Right?

Not exactly. While breastfeeding does help protect women from cancer in the long run, it’s not foolproof. In fact, there’s one type of cancer that sometimes masquerades as mastitis, that bane of breastfeeding moms everywhere. Many of the symptoms are similar, in fact. But cancer doesn’t go away with antibiotics. And as time passes, it gets worse.

Inflammatory breast cancer is often misdiagnosed as mastitis because many doctors and lactation consultants have never seen it before and consider it rare. “Rare” or not, there are over 100,000 women in the U.S. with this cancer right now; only half will survive five years. Please call your OB/GYN if you experience several of the following symptoms in your breast, or any unusual changes: redness, rapid increase in size of one breast, persistent itching of breast or nipple, thickening of breast tissue, stabbing pain, soreness, swelling under the arm, dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while), flattening or retracting of the nipple, or a texture that looks or feels like an orange (called peau d’orange). Ask if your GYN is familiar with inflammatory breast cancer, and tell her that you’re concerned and want to come in to rule it out.

There is more than one kind of breast cancer. Inflammatory breast cancer is the most aggressive form of breast cancer out there, and early detection is critical. It’s not usually detected by mammogram. It does not usually present with a lump. It may be overlooked with all of the changes that our breasts undergo during the years when we’re pregnant and/or nursing our little ones. It’s important not to miss this one.

Inflammatory breast cancer is detected by women and their doctors who notice a change in one of their breasts. If you notice a change, call your doctor today. Tell her about it. Tell her that you have a friend with this disease, and it’s trying to kill her. Now you know what I wish I had known six months ago.

You don’t have to have a lump to have breast cancer.