‘A familiar diagnosis’: Cindy Droll is the third generation in her ...

“It felt hard and flat, not soft like the cysts were,” she said. A mammogram and diagnostic ultrasound showed numerous cysts, but didn’t detect the cancer. It took an exam by her doctor, who tried to draw fluid from the spot, to tell him that something was suspicious. A biopsy was done and the doctor called her with the results while she was at work in Dr. Robert Hooper’s dentist office in Danielsville, where she has worked for the past 26 years.

Of course, she was upset, but says she took the news better than her husband, Joe, and son Jared, did. Though he had been through the news with her mother and other relatives, her diagnosis hit Joe hard.

“He’s lost a lot of people in his life and he was afraid he was going to lose me,” she said.

As for Jared, mother and son are very close and he too was afraid. “They were both so good during everything, they were just awesome,” she said.

Droll made the decision to have both breasts removed – which was something she had thought about ahead of time, and the surgery was performed later in November. She was diagnosed with “invasive ductal carcinoma” which meant chemotherapy was needed to attack any remaining cancer cells in surrounding tissues.

According to the American Cancer Society, IDC is the most common breast cancer. It starts in a milk passage (a duct), breaks through the wall of the duct, and invades the tissue of the breast. From there it may be able to spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body. It accounts for about eight out of 10 invasive breast cancers.


Droll feared the nausea she might feel from the chemo, which began the week before Christmas.

“I did really well and didn’t throw up once,” she said. “The Lord blessed me in that.”

By March, she was finished with her treatments.

“In a funny way I was more scared once the treatments were over,” Droll said. “When they’re treating you, you think well they’re doing something and watching you, and when that stops, you think, oh my gosh, I’m on my own now.”

But of course, she was not.

She had plenty of women around, including her mother and aunt, who were there to help in any way they could, and they really understood what she was going through.

“I never drove myself to a chemo treatment,” she said. “Someone would always take me and be there for me.”

They were also there to talk with, and to pray with.

She also had plenty of support at work, where most every one of her co-workers have some experience of the disease themselves, or in their families.
Now five years later, Droll remains cancer-free and grateful for each day. “The fear (of cancer returning) never goes away, no matter how long it’s been,” she said.

And besides breast cancer, there have been plenty of other relatives and neighbors who’ve been diagnosed with cancer in her small community on and around Coile Road near Comer.

“Ten people who’ve lived, or live, on Coile Road have had breast cancer,” she said, adding that 14 total have had some form of cancer.

Having survived breast cancer, Droll offered a few words of advice to those facing a diagnosis of breast cancer. “First of all, don’t look on the Internet,” she said, though she admits it’s very hard to resist. “Joe remembers waking up with me standing by the bed in the middle of the night after I’d been online, saying ‘I’m gonna die,’” she said. “You can read some very alarming things, but breast cancer is not an automatic death sentence.”

Also, Droll recommends taking a third person, besides you and your mate, to the doctor with you. “Because after you hear that word, you’re not going to hear anything else,” she said. “Also, take plenty of notes while you’re at the doctor and write down any questions you have so you’ll remember them.”

Also, Droll recommends that every woman perform regular breast self-exams.

“Mammograms are great, but my cancer wasn’t found with a mammogram – it’s good to check yourself regularly to see if something feels different,” she said.