Advances in technology are making health care even more miraculous every day, and when is comes to "top of the line," Lubbock has it.
That includes a dedicated breast MRI system that has a higher chance of detecting cancer than any other device. The technology is not only saving lives, it's changing the lives of those who are most threatened by breast cancer.
Dr. Lillian Chou of Wellness Lubbock made the $1.8 million investment a couple years ago. She says breast MRI's are much more detailed than the standard X-Ray mammogram.
"Assuming this is a cancer, the only way we could see if this is cancer is we would actually follow her mammogram and see a change in the density. It's really difficult," she explained by showing an X-Ray mammogram on a computer screen.
Sylvia Guerra is a patient of Chou's and a big fan of the breast MRI.
"I think it's amazing. For someone like myself, I know I'm a high risk patient, there's nothing more satisfying than knowing I'm being proactive," Guerra said.
She gets a breast MRI once a year at the Breast Center at Lubbock Wellness. And while she's as healthy as can be, she worries because her little sister was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at the young age of 34.
"I knew that we were high risk because my aunts on my paternal side had breast cancer, but it was my aunts. And it was my maternal grandmother, my grandmother on my mom's side. And so for someone like me, as young as I was, I thought that was something I didn't have to face until I was much older," Guerra said.
She discovered the technology after meeting Dr. Chou at a Breast Cancer awareness event.
"I have been taking care of breast cancer patients for many, many years. Since the 1980's," Chou said.
And Dr. Chou really knows what she's talking about, not just through her research, but through her own experience as a patient.
"When I felt the lump in my breast, I thought to myself, it felt like a breast cancer," she said.
Dr. Chou was diagnosed in September of 2004, she underwent treatment and had a mastectomy of the left breast.
"I never thought that I would have breast cancer myself," she said.
Then, a second tumor was discovered in her right breast using a standard MRI.
"But, we could not find out if it was cancer or not. I decided to go ahead and have the other breast removed. And when they removed the breast, they found the tumor, seven millimeters. Only, the tumor was benign," she said.
That painful experience led Dr. Chou on a mission for something more.
"I started to make good research on what's needed at the best breast center. So, I found out there's only one maker of the breast M-R-I machine that is dedicated for the breast," she explained.
It cuts the time of a standard MRI in half and allows women to lie comfortably in a downward facing direction.
"It is so relaxing, they play the music for you. Probably the hardest part of the whole ordeal was just the IV," Guerra said.
She rests easier since using the breast MRI as a supplement to her yearly mammogram.
"I was really, really searching for all kinds of answers and so, I found them," she said.
Click here to learn more about the Breast Center at Wellness Lubbock and the Aurora Dedicated Breast MRI.
