When Tracy Bridges discovered a lump during a self-exam, she had no idea how quickly her life was about to change. Thanks to the compassionate care at RadNet’s Victor Valley Women’s Center, Tracy received the diagnostic imaging and support she needed—leading to a path of remission. In this inspiring patient story, Tracy shares the ups and downs of her breast cancer journey—from initial scans and biopsy to the emotional support she received from staff, and how journaling helped her stay grounded through it all.
Transcript
0:00 I'm Tracy Bridges and currently we're living in Hesperia, California. Our retirement has been an adventure.
0:08 This wasn't necessarily the adventure we had planned, but it's still part of the adventure.
0:19 It was a chore when I was doing it because writing it all down felt like
0:26 reliving it. But looking back on it now, yes, I can see that it was very therapeutic.
0:39 I wasn't in a hurry to do that until I had a pain and did a self exam and found
0:49 a lump. And so made it a little bit more urgent for me.
0:55 After the mammog, the gal who did the mamogram was sweet girl there. She said, "Just mad have the radiologist look at
1:04 this before you go. Don't get dressed." Which I've been through that routine before with mammogs, you know. Oh yeah, you know, you need MRI or ultrasound or
1:12 something. Always turned out to be nothing.
1:14 So she was a little anxious about it. I just reminded her that we've been there before. And the difference was that they saw something suspicious and they wanted
1:22 to do it right away. They wanted to do an ultrasound right away to check that out.
1:32 So I got a call from Raquel who's our liaison for um scheduling the biopsies and she says, "Na, I need your help.
1:39 I've been trying to get an order from this Florida doctor for this patient that needs the ultrasound and you know the diagnostic imaging. there's suspiciousness on her screening memo.
1:49 And I said, "Oh, you know, of course, that's what they do. They reach out to me when they hit a brick wall and then I kind of get through that wall."
1:57 She came here to our center uh presented to our center for a mammogram and an ultrasound because she had a palpable mass and apparently was uh fairly large.
2:06 We did the diagnostic mammogram and it showed a very large mass and it showed lymph nodes which were marginal and
2:14 suspicious for breast cancer. We did the biopsy and we approached it the same way that we approached her diagnostic workup.
2:25 We'll take care of it. We'll help you.
2:28 We don't like the big C word. We like the big B words, benign and better. So, our job is to get these women on the
2:36 road to better. And that's what we do with the not just Miss Tracy Bridges, but we also do that for all of our women.
2:46 the PET scan that I've had 3 months into this medicine that they can't see the place on my lung. They can't see the
2:54 place on my adrenal glands and lymph nodes.
3:00 I just couldn't believe the results, you know, especially the PET. The PET showed everything. So, and now a year later and she's in remission, so she's she's good.
3:12 Jenny, who's the manager here, was incredible and helping out when we were having some insurance issues. And
3:20 Raquel, who did the scheduling of everything? And she always called after I had a biopsy or ultra, are you okay?
3:29 Are you doing okay? Is there anything we can do for you? The care and the love that I felt from the staff at Victor
3:36 Valley Women's Center, it just is overwhelming.
3:41 I'm very invested in this community and I have been now for 35 years in improving the accessibility to breast care and
3:49 breast imaging. We did it for Tracy. We did it willy willingly and very happily, but we do it for all of our patients.
3:59 I wrote a little poem before I even started and I just put the journey follow along if you care. I promise to
4:07 be honest as I share. The road ahead is not my choice, but I'll walk it bravely and use my voice
4:15 to bless all those who tend to my needs and give back all the love my soul receives.
4:23 I choose to live every day. You know, no one has a promise of tomorrow. And so I
4:29 just choose to make every day count and be thankful for every day that I have.