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| Diane Long |
M & E:
Can you set the stage of your life at the time of this dream that suggested you
had breast cancer?
Diane Long:
I have a home based floral studio where I specialized in weddings, and often, in matters of the heart. In late January 2011, a client called to send flowers to a friend who was in hospice home care, and could I design a floral arrangement with more scent,like lavender and gardenias? She started to cry and was very emotional. She said she found me online and was looking at my website and just loved all the beautiful flowers of weddings that I had designed. She saw a picture of me. She stated that I looked so much like her friend, who was always smiling and loved life, but simply said her battle was over now. A couple days later I had a dream that I was having lunch with my cousin and telling her I had the big C. However we were laughing and giggling and telling funny stories. So, when I woke up, it was not with dread, but just a fleeting thought of my last week’s client.
M&E:
Did the dream move you to seek screening or did you wait?
Diane Long:
A couple days later I came down with twenty-four flu like symptoms and fever, really sore muscles, which I thought that I had played too much tennis the day before. The following day I had a deep pain in my left breast with a red dot. Two days later the dot was now as big as a half-dollar.
I made an appointment with my medical group HMO doctor. The doctor on duty did a clinical breast exam felt no lumps, acknowledged it seemed like a mastitis infection and prescribed some antibiotics. She said do a follow up in two or three weeks if it does not clear up. I asked her about mastitis; because I thought that only comes from breast feeding and these girls have been dried for 14 years! I mention something about breast cancer. She looked startled, dismissed me, and said, "Cancer does not appear over night. “.
That evening as a result, I came home and started to research information on the internet (Google doctor:o), input all my symptoms and up pops an article that was posted just that same day from a research professor at University of Michigan about inflammatory breast cancer, how it's not that rare. His article stated it’s just that the primary care doctors are misdiagnosing it as Mastitis.
M&E:
Did you tell your physician about the breast cancer warning dream? What was his response?
Diane Long:
The next day I actually called a research physician at the hospital. We chatted for a few minutes and I told him about my symptoms. He got very quiet and simply said, “Dreams are very creditable. Do everything you can. Your life depends on it!”.
M&E: Did you get in pretty fast?
Diane Long: So the next day I made another appointment with a different doctor. He agreed with the other primary medical group doctor and stated, “Cancer and tumors take years to developed and if you were my mother or sister I would tell you the same thing. Just take the antibiotics."
This time I believe I went mad dog, used some profanities and told him: “No, you have to research this! It could be breast cancer!". Then I just blurted out,
“Look I have dreams that have always guided me in trouble times, ever since I was a little girl. Please, I’m trying to save my life. I was told I need to have a punch biopsy and ultrasound, because sometimes you don’t see it in a mammogram, which I had just nine months ago.".I left his office no better off than before I came; just a burning, seeping anger. Then I just thought - OK, I will just call every damn doctor in my Medical group.
M&E:
Like a number of women in the study, it took a lot of time to convince your physician to perform the tests your body was screaming that you needed. What was the outcome of your screening?
Diane Long:
The night before my needle core biopsy, I dreamed I fell into a killer whale tank and was yelling for someone to please help me! The massive black and white beasts were slowly circling around me. At that moment a tall handsome Asian man wearing a wetsuit jumped in and hugged me to him, then one of the smaller whales pushed us onto the landing. I woke up that morning in a very positive mood I danced around the kitchen floor and told my husband and daughter about the dream, thinking yes I'm going to live, and I really held onto that dream.
A week later I was diagnose with ducal carcinoma in situ, multi centric, grade 3. The good news it was not the aggressive invasive cancer that I had all the clinical symptoms of, but early stage 0 breast cancer. The survival rate for women with DCIS is very good, but the treatment plan was still a uni-lateral mastectomy.
M&E:
How did you come to be in Dr. Burk's breast cancer warning dreams study?
Diane Long:
The universe I think had a plan in this. A month before his research was ending, I Googled breast cancer dreams and women who had dreams of b/c before they were diagnosed .The article, I I think, was about Kathleen's book and then Dr. Larry's research on the dream blog.I have always had pretty strong dreams that have guided me in hard times.
M & E:
My sleeping brain occasionally delivered precognitive information in the past, but the percentage was small. My breast cancer precognitive dream was startling and I haven't been the same since. The frequency of such information has increased, especially what is called waking dreams..
Dr. Burk talks about symbolic meaning in illness.. Do you see any in your case? What did you learn from your experience?
Diane Long:
My second dream, the one with the Orca whales, was really powerful. My emotional state during that period: huge and gigantic.
I think maybe the little whale was the stage O cancer ( which I didn't know yet) - big in terms of the word cancer but a small threat.
I think maybe the little whale was the stage O cancer ( which I didn't know yet) - big in terms of the word cancer but a small threat.
After that strong dream, it really center me, I did feel like I had a plan.
I started to seek out acupuncture therapy and drinking green teas. Incorporating more yoga. meditating and writing in my journal daily.
As far as the learning experience, everyday always. long slow breath. Be so grateful that I m breathing. Seek out new experience, live life and be with people who make you laugh.
M&E:
What is your life like now?
Diane Long: I came out a resilient and strong. I completed in 2013 a 200 hour yoga alliance teacher training. Yoga and mediation saved me. I want to work with cancer survivors in the future because haha I'm a force of nature, or so I've been told!
Diane Long was born and raised in Southern California. She recently celebrated her 30 year wedding anniversary. The couple has a twenty-seven year old son who has recently married and a nineteen year old daughter in college. Diane can be contacted at www.englishrosefloral.com.
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Breast Cancer Warning Dreams Study Participants Interview Series:
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