Gina Noe

I (Anji) have started this Caring Bridge site to help Gina and Craig with communicating to family and friends in hopes to take some of that burden from them.  This is Gina’s story…

Spring of 2017…Gina experienced her first incident with the thought of the dreaded ‘c’ word when she had a biopsy on her left breast where thankfully there was no cancer found at that time, but due to familial history, the recommendation was to pursue genetic testing.  All genetic testing was found to be negative and the recommendation was to alternate ultrasounds with mammograms every 6 months.

Spring of 2019…due to Kathy’s (Gina's Mom) diagnosis of breast cancer and her ultimate passing away, Gina reported this information to her doctor and was then contacted by the Methodist High-Risk Clinic to begin monitoring every three months (instead of every 6 months).

Spring of 2020…COVID!  Monitoring was put on hold due to COVID restrictions until August where Gina had a mammogram.  Six days after that mammogram, Gina was called back for an additional ‘diagnostic’ mammogram.  At this time, she was told, “everything was fine”.  Her next regularly scheduled monitoring ultrasound was then scheduled for December. 

December 2020…after the regularly scheduled ultrasound, the decision was made to perform a needle biopsy on an area that was identified as questionable.  The results of the needle biopsy were inconclusive, so an ‘excisional biopsy’ was scheduled for January.

January 2021…the excisional biopsy was performed. 

February 2021…the results from the excisional biopsy were received and the local Pathologists here were not in agreement with the diagnosis, so they sent the results to Boston for confirmation.  The diagnosis returned from Boston as ‘Ductal Carcinoma in situ (DCIS)’.  This diagnosis dictated the need for an MRI to determine if there were any other areas in question.  Gina had the MRI which confirmed the Left Breast was clear of any concern and the Right Breast only showed the area that was previously identified.

Next Steps…
·       Dr. Mammolito (Surgeon) and an ‘Oncology Nurse Navigator’ are currently guiding Gina through this process
·       Additional testing to be performed to validate findings and determine treatment plan
·       Apt. with Dr. Mammolito to determine next steps scheduled for Friday, 3/19


I will keep everyone up-to-date with journal entries here to mark milestones and document this journey.

At this time, I encourage family and friends to leave Well Wishes, offer words of encouragement, share stories, memories & photos.  These uplifting messages of love and hope will provide Craig and Gina (and all of us) with the strength needed to walk this path.




     -anj