A culture grew diphtheroid bacteria, and an infectious disease specialist dismissed it as a contaminated sample or normal skin flora. Gene sequencing months later showed it was behind a rare chronic inflammatory breast disease. The patient, Tami Burdick (@Tami1501), says that finding was the missed opportunity. Proper treatment came 7 long months later instead of early on. Here is the sequence she describes. She found a hardened area in her right breast during a self-exam and called her doctor right away. A mammogram, an ultrasound and a core needle biopsy scored BI-RADS 5, highly suspicious for breast cancer. It wasn't cancer. Then came painful, draining abscesses. She had done her own research before the infectious disease appointment and says she was probably better informed about the condition than the specialist was. The specialist did agree to some tests, including urinalysis and blood work. The finding that got dismissed was the diphtheroid bacteria in her original culture. With the right testing, she says, they would have learned the bacteria was pathogenic to humans. She then found a pathology test on her own, gene sequencing. A surgical breast oncologist told her without hesitation, "Let's go ahead and do this test." It named the bacteria, Corynebacterium kroppenstedtii. Working backward by process of elimination, she traced it to a hotel shower on a business trip. Her doctor, in an interview they did together, said that route is possible but not as common, and that she would expect to see more of these infections where there is flooding, sewage breaks, oceans or polluted lakes. Treatment was 9 months of doxycycline after susceptibility testing, a cleanup surgery at the 6-month mark of antibiotic therapy, and a wound vac for about 6 weeks, which she called probably the worst part of it. Wound care was almost 24/7. Her advocacy list from the conversation: 1. Form the best health care team you can, and keep getting second and third opinions until you are comfortable you have partnered with the right one. 2. Do your own research, because doctors have a lot of patients and will not be the experts in everything. She is not blaming doctors. She points to medical networks that pressure clinicians to see as many patients as possible in a short amount of time. Her closing advice: "Always be your best advocate." Listen to the full conversation on The Podcast by KevinMD. Link in the replies. Search "The Podcast by KevinMD" wherever you listen to podcasts. What was the result in your own care that someone dismissed as nothing? #ThePodcastbyKevinMD #RareDisease