Episode
She Almost Skipped Her Follow-Up Mammogram. Her Results Changed Everything. Triple Positive Breast Cancer
- Podcast
- Not Today Cancer
- Published
- May 8, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3339
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://www.jendelvaux.com
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Summary
Melissa Mariano is a 43-year-old Canadian flight attendant living in Dubai who was diagnosed with triple positive (ER+, PR+, HER2+) breast cancer after a routine mammogram...zero symptoms, zero lumps. She almost skipped her follow-up appointment. In this episode, she shares how she went from stage 0 DCIS to navigating Herceptin without chemo, low-dose "Baby Tam," the Dutch test, and a radical people-pleasing wake-up call that changed everything. In this episode we cover: How calcifications on a mammogram went from "nothing to worry about" to a biopsy — and why she delayed 4 months The vacuum-assisted biopsy that may have removed her invasive cancer entirely before surgery even happened Why her final pathology came back DCIS only, stage 0 — and what triple positive actually means 18 rounds of Herceptin (anti-HER2) with NO chemo — and the NCCN guideline that made that possible The Italian Clancy study on "Baby Tam" (5mg Tamoxifen) and why she's tapering down from 20mg Dutch test results: high estrogen, good methylation — what it means and what she's doing about it Supplements she's using: L-theanine, Relora, liposomal glutathione, DIM (cycled), NAC Sauna 2x/week, red light therapy, hyperbaric oxygen, yin yoga, sound healing, Reiki, breathwork — her full protocol Egg freezing for fertility preservation before starting Tamoxifen The people-pleasing pattern she believes contributed to her diagnosis — and the shift that changed everything Why she says: "I'm no longer a phony — but I am my priority" Links & Resources: Clancy Study on Low-Dose Tamoxifen (Baby Tam / 5mg): READ HERE NCCN Guidelines for Breast Cancer: READ HERE Connect with Melissa Mariano: https://www.instagram.com/melidubai/ Not Today Cancer Inner Circle (weekly live calls, community support): [ INFO HERE ] Bro…