Mammograms

[Bethislucy]

I started at 41 I turned 40 in 2020 so I didn't start till the next year. I do them every year. I lost my grandmother to breast cancer so I want to keep a check.

I need to start getting them (I'm 42) but for some reason I have severe anxiety about the idea of doing it. Like crippling anxiety. No idea why.

I was very very nervous about going and I'm also extremely modest plus the way ladies always talked about them I was dreading it. All of the ladies that worked there were great and when I was done, I was shocked out how easy it always.

 

[Karalee402]

I need to start getting them (I'm 42) but for some reason I have severe anxiety about the idea of doing it. Like crippling anxiety. No idea why.

I felt the exact same way; you're not alone! But I just had my first one a few weeks ago, and it was absolutely no big deal! If you're sensitive and worry about pain, take a couple of advil before you go in. It honestly wasn't at all painful for me. It's mostly just awkward, but I'm so glad I did it.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I get mammograms yearly. I have one scheduled in a few weeks. I've seen, firsthand, how routine cancer detection tests are vitally important.

My sister had a small "blip" on her mammogram last year. Her doctor decided she should have surgery to remove it. It turned out to be cancerous and there were a few cancer cells in the tissue around it. The doctor wanted to do a second surgery to remove more tissue to ensure there weren't more cancer cells, which there weren't. She had 4 weeks of radiation after that, mostly as a precaution.

My sister also had colon cancer several years ago that was detected through a routine colonoscopy. She had several inches of her colon removed and no further treatment was necessary.

Because of her history, I am on a 5-year plan for colonoscopies instead of the usual 10. I've had two already and my most recent one revealed a tiny polyp, the type that could become cancerous but not always. My sister had some genetic testing recently that determined her bouts with cancer are not genetically based. That's good news for our brother and me, but we have to stay vigilant nonetheless.

 

[RangerPooh]

I started at 40 and have gone every other year. I need to schedule this years appointment as I had to cancel it this spring. I should go annually due to a history of breast cancer in my family. It's my work schedule that hinders me going.

 

[Minnesota!]

I need to start getting them (I'm 42) but for some reason I have severe anxiety about the idea of doing it. Like crippling anxiety. No idea why.

Hi, I am Minnesota, Queen of Health Anxiety. It is SOOOOO bad. I was having some massive "chest" issues in 2021, and after CTs, ECGs, stress tests, angiograms, ultrasounds on all of my organs, MRI, colonoscopy, etc., I threw in the dreaded mammogram, cuz why not.

Simplest one, by far. This last one, my husband drove me, cuz I needed my emotional support person. I went and gave them my name and sat down, he ran to the bathroom. By the time he was back, I was undressed, squished, redressed, and back waiting for him. There is minimal, minimal, minimal uncomfortableness - more awkward but then you remember that this is literally their job. They have seen better boobs, they have seen worse boobs. I would say the feeling (I have an ample chest) is that the skin that actually connects your boob to your chest feels slightly stretched. Maybe like you scratched a sunburn for a second? And it is SOOOOOO quick and SOOOOOO worth it.

I will gladly talk you through any of the above procedures, should you need me to.

 

[GottaGetToDisney!]

Yes, as everyone else has said - early detection is key!!

I work in a cancer center. Please, please have your screenings done! (Paps and colonoscopys, as well as mammograms!)

 

[AussieFan8]

I'd much rather have a mammogram than a Pap smear! But I do both annually.

Just curious - has anyone else out there been told they need a 3D mammogram and ultrasound annually due solely to dense breast tissue? I've been told that for a few years and now they are suggesting an additional annual test with contrast dye. Three tests just for dense tissue seems a bit over the top, but I don't know.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

I'd much rather have a mammogram than a Pap smear! But I do both annually.

Just curious - has anyone else out there been told they need a 3D mammogram and ultrasound annually due solely to dense breast tissue? I've been told that for a few years and now they are suggesting an additional annual test with contrast dye. Three tests just for dense tissue seems a bit over the top, but I don't know.

I would do it. I was always told I had dense breast tissue and did get 3D mammograms. I was not offered anything else. In October 2021 I was only 6 months late on my yearly mammogram. I was diagnosed stage 3 lobular cancer (it is very hard to detect on a mammogram.) It for sure had been growing a while because the tumor was large. They went ahead and did an MRI on the other breast. Cancer there too, but very small. Mammogram did not pick it up at all.

 

[DisneyHardin]

By the time he was back, I was undressed, squished, redressed, and back waiting for him.

This is how it is at the place I go too. They tell you to arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled appointment time to get checked in. I am usually back in my car by the time it is my scheduled appointment time.

 

[AussieFan8]

I would do it. I was always told I had dense breast tissue and did get 3D mammograms. I was not offered anything else. In October 2021 I was only 6 months late on my yearly mammogram. I was diagnosed stage 3 lobular cancer (it is very hard to detect on a mammogram.) It for sure had been growing a while because the tumor was large. They went ahead and did an MRI on the other breast. Cancer there too, but very small. Mammogram did not pick it up at all.

Thanks so much. I hope it was very treatable for you!

I do the ultrasound with the mammogram every year - just not sure about this new contrast dye test.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I’m a 20 yr BC survivor. I have a lot of built up scar tissue in my breast and under my arm (where lymph nodes were removed) so the mammogram itself is excruciating. But I just tell them to do their thing, hold my breath, and am very happy to walk out of there with good results. I have one coming up soon. Clinical exams at least once a year are important, too.

 

[VandVsmama]

Do you ladies get yearly mammograms? How old were you when you started? I keep reading that they can cause cancer due to radiation and I wonder if we are doing more harm than good? Thoughts?

You know what would REALLY suck?

NOT getting a mammogram because you're afraid of the radiation, getting breast cancer, not knowing you have breast cancer until it's spread to surrounding tissues and is large enough for you to feel it, having major surgery to remove as much of it as possible, having to go through lots of chemo and radiation treatments to shrink the remaining tumors, losing your hair in the process, wrecking your immune system, and pretty much living the rest of your life waiting for the other shoe to drop and thinking every single day, "What if it comes back?"

OR you could go have a mammogram and IF you developed breast cancer, it could catch it early. And then you could have it surgically removed and not have to worry about it.

5 yr ago, I went for a mammogram. Then they wanted me to do a biopsy. Then a 2nd biopsy. Then got the dreaded news, but hey, at least it was Stage 0 and all contained within my milk duct. At the suggestion of the surgeon, I got genetic testing and guess what? I have the ATM gene mutation. Surgeon recommended mastectomy of both breasts. That surgery happened on my eldest child's 13th birthday.

It turns out that there was cancer in TWO spots in 1 breast and precancerous cells in the other one. My cancer was caught early. Nothing in the lymph nodes, which meant no chemo and because I went the mastectomy route, I didn't need radiation because it was Stage 0 cancer.

5 years later and I don't have cancer.

If I had ignored that little voice in my head which said, "You should go get a mastectomy," I'm pretty sure I'd have been dead by now. instead, I got to see my ODD graduate from high school.

So suck it up and do it. Or don't. But whatever you choose, be prepared to deal with the consequences of that choice. And deciding to NOT make a decision is a decision.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Definitely anxiety-inducing for me, but keeping up w/it yearly. I started at about 40.

 

[holden]

Yes. Every year since I was 40.

Diagnosed with BC in my mid-ish 40s. They caught it early. Did radiation and Tamoxifen. Now cancer free.

I am a strong advocate of getting mammograms. It may have saved my life.

If anyone is thinking about putting it off, please don’t.

 

[Imzadi]

There is a new(ish) type of mammography out. My Dr. told me about it last year. It actually doesn't have the radiation that normal mammography has. And he said that insurance now covers it. I was a little too concerned that it was too new technology. So I turned it down then.

But, a couple months ago, I happened to be at the Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and saw an in-depth presentation for this new mammography. It's called Contrast Enhanced Mammography. This wasn't an outside research study. The Breast Cancer Center at MSK does their own extensive research, trials, treatment and studies as they are in the business to try to fight and beat breast cancer, so they collect, study and use their own research and results. "According to the rankings of U.S. News & World Report in its annual Best Hospitals listing, MSK has consistently ranked among the top two cancer hospitals in the U.S. and the top-ranked cancer center in the northeast since these rankings were established more than 30 years ago."

Contrast Enhanced Mammography (CEM) is great for women with dense breasts. "CEM is an advanced digital mammographic technique that uses imaging neovascularity to enable earlier breast cancer detection like MRI, but at a lower cost w/potential for access to a larger number of women." They showed us slides of a regular mammography. Basically with dense breasts, the images look like a white snow storm, or a white sheet of paper. Cancer tumors show up as dark spots. In a "snow storm" one can't pick out anything.

Then they showed the same breast using an ultrasound. Finally we see a dark spot. Definitely (later) diagnosed as a cancer tumor. However, with ultrasound, it's only as precise as the current technology is able to magnify and detect. Spots have to be of a certain size to be seen.

Then they showed the images of the Contrast Enhanced Mammography. Some of them were split-screen, side by side comparisons next to an ultrasound of the same breast. It's like looking at the same image with regular TV on the sonogram side. The CEM side looked like a super-high definition 4K TV screen, and in terms of clarity and MAGNIFICATION of a tiny area, it was like being seen on one of those super size Jumbotron screens in a sports stadium.

They were able to enhance an image that looked clear in the ultrasound image, with one thinking there is no cancer. Yet the CEM zoomed in to show a dark little DOT the size of a pencil point of cancer shown, way before an ultrasound would detect it. Remember, we usually only go in for a screening once a year. So that dot would be growing all that time until an ultrasound finally picks it up.

Also, Memorial Sloan Kettering is using AI as a back-up. If the Dr. or CEM technician missed seeing the little pencil dot, the AI technology would point it out. "Look at area 22," for example. Then the Dr, would focus on that area and see the pencil dot of (what turns out to be) cancer.

They are able to successfully treat these cancers months before they would have been detected on an ultrasound. And zero chance of seeing it on a mammogram until very big.

I'm sold. Will get it this year.

However, do your own research, ask your own doctors.

 

[laurajetter]

I need to start getting them (I'm 42) but for some reason I have severe anxiety about the idea of doing it. Like crippling anxiety. No idea why.

Me toooo... I'm 49. I know it's stupid, and the longer I wait the worst off it could be, and yet I just haven't brought myself to do it.

 

[mom2rtk]

I started at 40. Breast cancer is highly treatable if you catch it early. I find that waiting too long between screenings just makes me anxious. I like knowing that if they find anything, it's probably at an early stage since I go annually. The most anxiety I had going for a mammogram was when I skipped a few years.

 

[AussieFan8]

Contrast Enhanced Mammography (CEM) is great for women with dense breasts. "CEM is an advanced digital mammographic technique that uses imaging neovascularity to enable earlier breastcancer detection like MRI, but at a lower cost w/potential for access to a larger number of women." They showed us slides of a regular mammography. Basically with dense breasts, the images look like a white snow storm, or a white sheet of paper. Cancer tumors show up as dark spots. In a "snow storm" one can't pick out anything.

Then they showed the same breast using a sonogram. Finally we see a dark spot. Definitely (later) diagnosed as a cancer tumor. However, with sonograms, it's not exactly precise, as the spots have to be of a certain size to be seen.

Then they showed the images of the Contrast Enhanced Mammography. Some of them were split-screen, side by side comparisons next to a sonogram of the same breast. It's like looking at the same image with a super-high definition 4K TV screen and in terms of clarity and ENLARGEMENT of a tiny area. They were able to enhance an image that looked clear in the sonogram image, with one thinking there is no cancer. Yet the CEM zoomed in to show a dark little DOT of cancer shown, way before a sonogram would detect them.

Thank you for sharing this, it is very helpful!

 

[LilyWDW]

I just want to thank everyone who has responded to me with such amazing care and support. I'm nearly crying that so many people care about a stranger on a Disney message board.

I'll get it done. I promise.

 

[JediBonas]

I'd much rather have a mammogram than a Pap smear! But I do both annually.

Just curious - has anyone else out there been told they need a 3D mammogram and ultrasound annually due solely to dense breast tissue? I've been told that for a few years and now they are suggesting an additional annual test with contrast dye. Three tests just for dense tissue seems a bit over the top, but I don't know.

Dense breast tissue increases your risk for breast cancer and makes mammograms harder to read. I have dense tissue and have had a 3d mammo + ultrasound every year. They calculated my risk and since it's high (I think mostly because I have very dense breasts) I now have to go every six months (alternating mammo+ultrasound and breast MRI).