October 21, 2024
Breast self-exams lead to early intervention and survival
A breast center ultrasound technician at Kaiser Permanente truly empathizes with her patients and helps them cope, even as she continues her own cancer journey.
Sarah Karapetyan reflects on her own breast cancer care experience, telling her story to educate other women about the importance of self-examination.
In 2013, Sarah Karapetyan, a Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center ultrasound technician, discovered a lump in her breast. Following a diagnosis of breast cancer, she needed to go on leave for 14 months from her job in the radiology department to attend to her course of care: a double-mastectomy, follow-up surgery, reconstruction, plus 5 months of chemotherapy.
Determined to pursue her professional passion
While undergoing treatment, she learned of a newly created ultrasound technician position in the Breast Center at Woodland Hills Medical Center, dedicated to working with patients referred for sonography and biopsy of breast lumps.
Karapetyan applied and was selected for the job. After finishing her treatment, she returned to work with a new passion. Since 2015, she has helped Breast Center physicians with imaging studies and provided emotional support to patients who need follow-up care.
She comforts concerned patients by sharing with them that she is a breast cancer survivor. “Having been through my breast cancer journey, I share my story with them, and as soon as I tell them about it, they become calmer, reassured,” she said.
Ultrasound technician Sarah Karapetyan spends time comforting each patient before, during, and after their breast biopsies.
Education and prevention are key to survival
Regardless of her patients’ treatment, Karapetyan tells them to become active in their care. “Just know your body,” she says. She educates her patients about the importance of self-vigilance and ongoing breast self-exams.
She encourages them to build a habit of performing a breast self-examination every month. She suggests a simple method: draw a picture of each breast and mark the drawing with dots, as a rough locator map of any lumps you detect.
Documentation should include notes describing any perceived changes in the sizes of those lumps.
We need to know our bodies. We need to guide the doctors to help us. Self-examination is very, very important. Sarah Karapetyan
Self-examination helped identify the recurrence of cancer
As a longtime survivor, Karapetyan continues to do her monthly breast self-exams and was surprised to find another lump along scar tissue under her armpit in 2023. She brought it to the attention of her doctors, then again when it became more noticeable.
During the summer of 2024, Karapetyan underwent surgery for the removal of the lump, and pathologists determined that it was a recurrence of her original cancer. Karapetyan plans to seek guidance from a radiation oncologist about further therapy.
After 18 years as an ultrasound technician, her work continues
Meanwhile, she continues to work in the Breast Center, where she can do the most good for patients. “I feel their pain. I give them my personal cell phone number. I tell them, ‘Call me anytime.’”
In addition to being vigilant about her health status, Karapetyan is grateful for having a responsive Kaiser Permanente team offering access to resources necessary for optimal disease management.
Learn more about cancer care at Kaiser Permanente.
Watch Karapetyan’s videotaped care experience story.
