washington hospital center. last summer, o'brian was a patient at the summer. she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. >> i had no idea about that. that is my thinking, negative. >> wow. you know, that was okay. you know? >> reporter: far from it. triple negative is one of the most rare and aggressive forms of breast cancer, but usually diagnosed in black women and in younger women. >> it is quite terrifying. >> prior to the surgery, she had several meetings with her medical team. one question that she had for them is what kind of anesthesia would she be getting. she had a wire localization, a biopsy. the anesthesia that doctors used were regional nerve blocks. he says that this technique offers several advantages to the breast cancer patients over the general anesthesia. >> and there is a decrease pain after the surgery. there is the decrease tumor recurrence with nerve blocks and also a decrease chance of chronic pain that sometimes,