CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- My fight against breast cancer took me by surprise.  I was at my annual physical when my doctor, Larry Pixley of Charlotte OB & GYN Associates, found a lump.  He didn't think it was anything, and neither did I.  But Dr. Pixley decided I should have a mammogram to be sure.

To be honest, I was glad.  His  nurse, Erin,  would  make the appointment for me.  It was more efficient.  It saved me time.  And when I went for the mammogram, I didn't have a care in the world ... except all I had to do. 

It was December, and I was busy with Christmas, work and school activities.  The technologist at Charlotte Radiology was great.  We laughed and talked about how busy we were.  I didn't think much of it when she left me in a waiting room so long that I fell asleep. 

I didn't grow overly alarmed when she came back to take more pictures.  But the moment radiologist Dr. Deborah Agisim walked in the room, I knew something wasn't right. 

"We found something," she said.  "Suspicious cells."

In the weeks that followed I would undergo a breast biopsy and more waiting.  The news that I had an early form of breast cancer came by phone.  "I have some disappointing news," Agisim said.

Within days, my husband and I were sitting in front of Dr. Richard White of Carolinas Medical Center.   Dr. White spent several hours with us, explaining the cancer and my survival rate.  He recommended a lumpectomy followed by radiation.  And he told me up front, that if he could get it all, my chance of survival was excellent, the same as a more invasive mastectomy.  But he warned me, because I'm small chested, a lumpectomy would be challenging. The good news, my cancer was non invasive. Because of my mammogram and my yearly physical, the doctors had caught the cancer at the earliest stage possible. Through treatment my outcome would be excellent.

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Ann Sheridan's breast cancer battle

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On the day of my surgery, Dr. Matthew Gromet, of Charlotte Radiology, and Dr. White, "staged" the cancer. 

"My plan is to put one localizing needle here and one back here," Gromet told me. Those needles would serve as Dr. White's only guide to the cancer.

The surgery lasted only an hour or so.  I was home by noon, before my kids got home from school.  My lumpectomy was easy.  But did they get the cancer cells that they were going after?

Part 2: The Battle Continues

Here's the thing about my breast cancer: even with a diagnosis, I didn't feel sick. And honestly, things at home seemed normal. Normal, that is, until the phone rang, the kids talked, and my mom showed up to help.

As my surgery grew closer, the intensity at home also grew and my fear grew. I worried about my three young children. I have 9-year-old twins and a 13-year-old daughter. Because of them, I tried to put on a good face, but the truth is, we were taken off guard by my diagnosis. I have no family history of cancer and have never worried about getting breast cancer.

On the day of my lumpectomy, my husband Steve and I were in a pre-op room at Carolinas Medical Center by 6 am. My surgeon, Dr. Richard White, had recommended a lumpectomy followed by radiation. My cancer was caught early thanks to good work by my OB-GYN, Dr. Larry Pixley of Charlotte OB & GYN Associates and the excellent doctors at Charlotte Radiology.

In fact, it was caught so early, the cancer had not spread at all. I was lucky. I had non-invasive cancer. If Dr. White could get all the cancer cells that he could see on my mammogram, my chance of survival would be excellent -- higher than 95 percent. But he had warned me that it would be a challenge. I'm small-chested and that makes a lumpectomy more difficult for any surgeon.

"So there's a little grouping right here and another one right here," Dr. Matthew Gromet of Charlotte Radiology told Dr. White during the surgery staging. Gromet's job: to lead White to the cancer using films from my mammograms and needles. These doctors were literally making a road map of my breast. Dr. White would not be able to see the cancer cells. The cancer I have, Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, is invisible to the human eye. That's why DCIS is  best caught through a mammogram.

"Our goal today is to take out those calcifications as best as we can with as much of a rim of normal tissue as we possibly can," Dr. White told me on the day of my surgery.

After all the worry that comes with a diagnosis of cancer, I was shocked at how easy the surgery went. It lasted about an hour and I was home before my kids made it off the bus! I felt euphoric, and I had only mild discomfort.

But days later, I got a phone call. A call I anticipated, yet feared. It was my surgeon, Dr. White.  There was more cancer and unclear margins. My battle was not over.

I've decided to tell my story to you because I believe a mammogram saved my life.  Yes, my battle was more complicated than we had hoped it would be, but it was still early stage cancer.  A mammogram saved my life and it could save yours, too.

Part 3: Two words you'll never hear

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Ann's Story: 7 hours of surgery

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There are two words breast cancer survivors want to hear more than anything.. "You're cured." Unfortunately, we’ll never hear that said. There is always the risk of the cancer coming back, somewhere. Maybe in the same breast, the other one, or of course, in a different part of your body.

I was lucky. My cancer was non invasive. It had not spread. I always kept up with my yearly mammograms and my yearly physical. I believe those two things saved my life. And I believe they could save yours too. That is why I’m telling my story. I want to encourage you, and the people you love, to make an appointment for a mammogram. I want to remind you to get your annual physical.

My cancer was a very early stage of breast cancer. With my doctor’s help, I decided to have a lumpectomy, followed by radiation. But my surgeon, Dr. Richard White of Carolinas Medical Center, told me from the beginning there was a real possibility I would need two surgeries. My case was challenging because I am small chested. Dr. White would be going after the cancer, while trying to preserve as much of the breast as he could.

I can honestly tell you that I was not surprised when Dr. White called me to tell me I would need a second surgery. I never felt great about my odds. I’m not sure why. Still, deciding my next course would be tough, agonizing really. I could chose a second lumpectomy, called a re-excision or a mastectomy. I visited with doctors from Charlotte Radiology, I underwent an MRI, and I talked to a plastic surgeon. And yes, I was tested for the cancer gene. Again, I got lucky. I do not have the cancer gene.

The tests I underwent were important, but I still needed to make my decision about the next course of treatment. And after several weeks, I decided to have a mastectomy. I wanted to be done with it. And because I had non invasive cancer, I didn’t need radiation or chemotherapy.

It had been nearly three months since I first learned I had a suspicious mammogram. And on the day of my surgery, a team of doctors and nurses were with me, along with my family. That surgery would last about seven hours. Dr. White would do the mastectomy, and then my plastic surgeon, Dr. Jean-Francois Lefaivre of Carolinas Cosmetic and Plastic Surgery, would begin the reconstruction. When I woke up, again, I felt happy, relieved it was over.

Every woman with breast cancer has a different story. Her story. In the end, here’s what I learned. In a surgery that took away something so big, I woke up with only a two inch piece of surgical tape to show for it, covering what I lost, perhaps revealing how unimportant it was.