Ohio woman details health journey after contracting rare infectious breast disease on a business trip
After contracting an extremely rare infectious breast disease, an Ohio woman was shocked to self-discover that it got here from contaminated water.
“It was me that found the test to result the bacteria, and it was me leading the way to find out how I contracted it,” Tami Burdick, of Cincinnati, informed Fox News Digital. Burdick wrote a memoir of her health journey of self-diagnosis referred to as, “Diagnosis Detective: Curing Granulomatous Mastitis.”
Tami Burdick is an writer and advocate for granulomatous mastitis. She shares her story of self-diagnosis in her ebook, “Diagnosis Detective: Curing Granulomatous Mastitis.” (Tami Burdick)
An picture of Tami Burdick post-operation. Burdick stated that she has two scars from her breast surgical procedure. (Tami Burdick)
In January 2017, Burdick went to Connecticut for a business trip, however roughly two months upon her return dwelling, she started experiencing a host of signs. Burdick shared that she started experiencing breast ache and after a self-evaluation she found a laborious lump.
Assuming an impending most cancers analysis, Burdick promptly referred to as her main care doctor, who ordered a mammogram and ultrasound of the contaminated space. After Burdick’s biopsy, she was launched that it was not a most cancers analysis as a substitute it was a rare an infection.
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Burdick was identified with granulomatous mastitis (GM) a “rare chronic inflammatory breast condition” that’s extremely painful.
“I was most certainly relieved it wasn’t cancer, though I could have never imagined how this breast disease would soon reveal its ugly head like the monster it was,” Burdick stated.
Tami Burdick started researching Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii after a check revealed that it was the foundation trigger for her breast disease. (Tami Burdick)
Despite Burdick’s analysis, she nonetheless didn’t know what had brought on her situation, nor a path ahead for remedy and restoration. Eventually, Burdick got here throughout a Facebook assist group, the place she related with different ladies from all the world over who even have GM.
Seven months from her preliminary analysis, Burdick uncovered a gene sequencing pathology check that a woman in her assist group really helpful.
“It ultimately helped save my life,” Burdick stated.
“It ultimately helped save my life.”
Tami Burdick and her physician and buddy, Dr. Kelly McLean. Dr. McLean ordered the pathology check that ultimately revealed Burdick’s root trigger — micro organism largely related to water. (Tami Burdick)
After requesting that she may do the check, Burdick lastly found out the place the trigger for her painful breast an infection.
“The reason why I called my book ‘Diagnosis Detective’ was because it was me that figured everything out before the doctor, Burdick told Fox News Digital. “I discovered a check that will lastly end result the an infection after seven months. I knew one thing was inflicting it.”
“And lastly, after seven months, we had a solution,” Burdick said.
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The pathology test revealed Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii as the root cause of Burdick’s disease.
Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii is an environmental-originated bacteria associated mostly with water, sewage and soil.
Tami Burdick, left, and her oncologist, Dr. Kelly McLean, wear “GM” advocacy T-shirts. (Tami Burdick)
The first picture is Tami Burdick’s original mammogram prior to her ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy that would then result in her diagnosis of granulomatous mastitis. (Tami Burdick)
Burdick next order of business was finding out how she contracted the bacteria.
She had her water tested in her home for the Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii, but the results were negative. Burdick said that she had not been in a pool, hot tub, or any other bodies of water for “fairly a while.”
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Research about the bacteria told Burdick that it needed a natural point of entry, like a pore or duct opening.
Eventually, Burdick and her medical team came to believe that she contracted the nasty bacteria from her hotel shower during her 2017 business trip.
Tami Burdick’s first time returning to the Northeast since her diagnosis of granulomatous mastitis. She says she contracted the rare disease from a hotel shower during a business trip to Connecticut in 2017. (Tami Burdick)
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Years after Burdick’s diagnosis with GM, she is still advocating for this rare infectious disease that affects 2.4 women per 100,000.
“I’ve two scars on my breast. One is in the direction of the highest and the opposite one is beneath,” Burdick said. “I see them each single day, and I name them my warrior wounds.”
She said that her scars are a reminder to keep sharing her story with the world and to keep advocating for others facing GM.
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“I even wrote in my ebook that God provides his battles to his strongest troopers and that God knew that there wanted to be a voice for this disease,” Burdick said. “At the tip of the day, it is all about serving to folks.”
