OT Mammogram - freaking out a little

[Andrea_loves_Disney]

Hello WISH friends!

I hope some of you have some experience to share with me. I had my mammogram on Monday (I was about 6 months late getting it this year, but I least I got it) I got a call today that I have to go back to have them take "more images" of the left breast. Of course when she was telling me this I was sort of frozen so I don't remember exactly what she said (something about shadows/density, etc) but I DO remember her exact words "this is not that uncommon, we just need to see more images to make sure ..." I don't remember her exact words after that. Of course I am FREAKING out inside...thinking the worst, assuming it is cancer...etc etc. Is there anyone out there who has had a second mammogram and had it turn out fine? I have very dense breasts (so they tell me) so I do remember when I had a mammogram in years past the tech said "don't be surprised if they want to do it over again because your breast tissue is so dense."

Soooo...now I get to wait and think more about it. I know it will be at least a week till I go back and then a day or two after that till I hear. Agony. AND I am having my neighborhood Bunco Xmas Party at my house on the 7th so my stress level has already been rising because of that.

Anyway, I just need some comforting I guess. My husband is just not there for me emotionally. He said "oh, just don't worry about it until you go back". Gee thanks, dear. I'll do that. I don't mean to be a whiner, I am sure there are plenty folks out there who are going through much worse things! Thanks for listening though! I'll keep you posted on my results.

 

[delilah]

I had a similar experience when I had my mammogram earlier this fall. I am a physician on staff at the hospital, and I was freaking out when I couldn't access the report for my mammogram at the time I thought it should be available. I was even worse when I was able to check results on some of my patients who had their mammograms after I had mine. I had my mammogram on a Thursday, and worried all weekend when my report wasn't dictated at all on Friday. Then, Monday, radiology called my office to let me know that they needed more views. Actually, in my case, there was just a skin fold that needed to be redone. I had lost so much weight that I had a bit of loose skin. Another time, the problem was that my breast was too large for the film, and the radiologist wanted it redone so he could see all the parts. So, it can be a technical problem. But, it seems I have a technical problem whenever I go in. It's anxiety provoking, even for doctors.

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

I am so sorry that you are stressing over this. You are right, it is easy to say don't fret. We do though don't we.

I've had re-takes, ultrasounds and the first time it was stressful. I've even had the PAP abnormalities resulting in biopsy more than once too. I have family history that adds to this stress.

I don't have the words other than try your best to take a deep breath and meet tomorrow with a good attitude. Continue onward with a healthy attitude and if you believe, offer the worry up to a Higher Power.

I will say prayers, send PD and positive thoughts that it is just as they say, nothing to worry over.

Let us know how things go.

 

[BigMama]

This Happens To Me All The Time,try Not To Worry Next Time When You Make Your Appt. Try To Make It When The Dr. Is Ganna Be There So If He Wants More Images You Dont Have To Go Through This They Can Do Them Right Away. Lots Of Luck You Will Be In My Prayers

 

[PaulaSue]

I hope all goes well for you!

I had my first mammo about 1 1/2 years ago (mom was 35 when she was dia). I have dense breasts too (I BF my girls) and I was called back and had to have an u/s and bio and all. I have 2 issues they watch so I go every 6 months to keep an eye on them.

It is very scary and I wish I could be there to help you through this. It is very hard and with a DH not supportive it makes it even worse. Hopefully you can take someone with you and talk/listen to the doctor with you. Even though I got fairly good news it is very overwelming and I couldn't take in all the doctor said.

 

[JudyS]

Most of the time, the stuff that shows up on mammograms is nothing. In fact, there are some good studies suggesting that mammograms produce so many "false positives" (that is, tests that look like there is a problem when really there isn't) that women without any particular breast cancer risk factors would actually live (very very slightly) longer if they never got a mammogram. In other words, the risk of the radiation and possible unnecessary biopsies from getting a mammogram outweigh (very very slightly) the possible benefit of maybe finding a breast tumor early.

In fact, I refuse to get a mammogram, for this very reason. I'm not opposed to cancer screening in general; I get regular pap smears because there is strong evidence that they reduce the risk of dying from cervical cancer. But as for mammograms, I think they are just too unreliable to bother with, even not counting the fact that they cause massive stress in millions of women who are told they have "suspicious" mammograms, but who really don't have cancer.

In terms of having something suspicious show up on a cancer screening test, I went through that recently. Because I was on infertility drugs for multiple cycles but never became pregnant, I am at a higher risk of ovarian cancer. So, I went to a gynecologist who does ultrasound screenings of the reproductive tract, figuring he would reassure me by saying my ovaries looked fine. Well, he didn't. I had two large cysts on one ovary, and my endometrium (uterine lining) looked very abnormal as well. He biopsied my endometrium and I had to wait a week for the results, which was very stressful. The biopsy came back "negative" (i.e., normal), which was good, but he still wants me to have my endometrium surgically removed because there's no way to biopsy the whole thing. I may have to do this, but first I am trying to get my endometrium and ovaries to go back to normal by dieting a lot, taking stronger diabetes medicine, and doing high-intensity exercise. (Endometrial cancer is strongly linked to Type 2 diabetes. I'm not sure if ovarian cancer in general is, but the type of ovarian abnormality I had is.)

Five weeks after the first ultrasound, a second ultrasound showed my ovaries were now normal. It was too soon to tell if the endometrial problem had gone away, but I'm hopeful on that. (I get checked again in 2 weeks.)

I actually feel that all the breast cancer awareness campaigns have made women feel that breast cancer is a bigger risk than it really is. Of course, breast cancer is a horrible disease, but it's not the leading cause of death in women. (Heart disease is the #1 killer of both men and women -- almost 10 times as many women die of heart disease as die of breast cancer.) According to the Mayo Clinic, women are less likely to die of breast cancer than they are to die of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, emphysema, or Alzheimer's. ( www.mayoclinic.com/health/womens-health/WO00014 ) Based on the current state of medicine, 3 women out of every 100 will eventually die of breast cancer. This may seem like a lot -- until you realize that this means 97 women out of 100 will eventually die of something other than breast cancer.

Bottom line -- the large majority of "suspicious" results on mammograms are false alarms. And, breast cancer is far less common than the media makes it seem.

Good luck with the rest of the tests! But, it is probably nothing -- most abnormal mammograms are.

 

[JudyS]

By the way, I wanted to add that I don't feel this is an "OT" (off-topic) thread. This board is designed for asking questions and getting encouragement on being healthy. Your question is about health, so it definitely fits on this board. Most people here seem to post primarily about weight, but there is a lot more to health than just losing weight.

Hope you get a clean bill of health and feel less stressed soon!

 

[ironz]

Andrea.....often it is not a big deal. I can't tell you not to stress, because that is our natural instinct. But, mammography, like all medicine (even Eastern medicine, for those not inclined toward the Western medical practices) is imprecise, and the docs would rather be more sure of the findings than to wait.

Since this now puts you in the "diagnostic" category for the extra views (unless it was just a technical thing, like a film artifact from the processor or something, which it doesn't sound like), then the radiologist should be there to review the images at the time they are done.

I do some work in radiology/mammography, so I get it....hard for you, but better to be safe than sorry. And the docs need to have the best images possible to say no cancer vs. suspicious. But at this time, you can't tell which way it will go, so hang in there, ok?

Judys, you are worrying me, however...being close to the field, it is just scary to me for you not to at least get a mammo every couple of years, if you are not going to go yearly. I have seen too many cases where a woman decided to stop getting her yearly screening after several years of normal mammograms, and then showed up after a lag period of 5 years or so with an inoperable tumor. Yes, there is a small risk from the radiation, but radiologists can find cancers that are completely curable with this method. (not always, mind you, but they sure try). There is actually more over-radiation related to the increased use of CT scans for other medical problems than for mammography, if you saw the article that just came out this week about that. Please don't let your breast health fall by the wayside.

And, though you quote that 3/100 women will die of breast cancer...that doesn't account for the women who were cured of their breast cancer with early detection and treatment. 1/9 women will have breast cancer. So it may not kill you, but if you do have it, wouldn't you like a chance for a cure?

The reason for a lot of False positives with mammo is that the tolerance for any missed cancer is so low. Better to biopsy or follow up benign processes than miss one cancer.

and, people must know that breasts are hard to image and interpret well. Consider the weather....look out in the sky...wherever you are, it may be completely clear out, there may be a few wispy clouds, it may be partly cloudy, or completely overcast. Each of those conditions is NORMAL weather. Mammos look the same way...some are clear, some are very dense. Most are normal. Or a little cancer may be hiding. Please appreciate this...the doctor reading your mammogram has a tough job.

Another analogy I heard once: Imagine a Where's Waldo book. You know, the guy in the red striped sweater and cap. So, say you have a book with 50 pages of Where's Waldo....so you look and look and look. These pages are analogous to 50 screening mammograms. Now, imagine that "Waldo"---i.e., the breast cancer, is only on one of the 50 pages. And the kicker is...you don't know which one of the 50 pages he is on, so you have to look at each and every section of each one. And to make it harder....maybe "Waldo" doesn't have his cap on...or the sweater is green stripes, not red.... Do you get the picture?

 

[JudyS]

Well, I didn't mean to get Andrea's thread off-track. I wouldn't have posted about my decision not to get mammograms if I had realized it might change the focus of this thread. So, probably anyone who wants to take me to task for refusing to have a mammogram should email or PM me.

I will say, though, that I agree completely with you, Ironz, that mammograms are hard to interpret. In fact, that was the main point I was trying to make.

 

[delilah]

As a physician, I worry in a special way about people who don't want to follow my advice in terms of keeping themselves well. I could share horror stories about people who didn't do what I told them to do, and then had a bad result. For example, just last week, I had a 77 yo patient come into the hospital with a pleural effusion. She has been my patient ever since I started 16 years ago. She is a very sweet lady, I love taking care of her. She never wanted to come in for her routine exam. I saw her maybe once a year to refill her medications. I saw her last January. She didn't want me to do her pelvic exam. She came back in June with ******l bleeding. You guessed it--she had endometrial cancer. She had a hysterectomy November 1, and just got out of the hospital the day before Thanksgiving (we don't do that type of surgery at our little county hospital--she was a big U Medical Center). Fortunately for her, she didn't have a malignant effusion, and went home later that day after draining the effusion. It was just because she had such a big surgery. When I see an older lady for her routine exam, I ask extensively about ******l bleeding. When an older lady comes in for a BP check, I ask her if she has any other concerns, and if she doesn't mention ******l bleeding, I don't know it is going on.

Another thing to keep in mind, on the topic of mammograms in general, has to do with how medicine is practiced in 2007 compared to 1995, when I had my first mammogram. In 1995, we had three radiologists on staff at my hospital, a small county hospital in a semi rural area. The radiologists were at the hospital generally during day shift, and would be called at night for emergency CT exams, etc. When I needed additional views, the technician was able to show them to the radiologist immediately, and it was taken care of right then and there. In 2007, in contrast, the mammogram films are digitized, and interpreted in the radiology department at Big U Medical Center. The radiologists are downtown in the big city 15 miles away. I wouldn't know the radiologist who interpreted my mammogram this time if he bit me on the leg. He probably doesn't even know that I am a doctor, unless he happened to notice that three other mammograms he read that day were ordered by myself. That is why the three day turn around instead immediate turn around like we had 10-15 years ago. Another rub is that residents read mammograms at Big U Medical Center. Not to knock residents, because I was once one myself, but probably greatly increases the number of false positives and other associated problems. But, if I want to, I can bring up the image of my mammogram on my home computer, because all of our Xray studies are downloaded onto the computer.

Now, it is true that I could go to Big U Medical Center and have my mammogram interpreted by the same doctors who interpreted the films at my hospital. But, I am not sure that they would look at my film immediately (ie, improve turnaround time). Instead of being a 20 minute procedure that I can schedule before my work day begins, getting a mammogram could become a whole day ordeal that involves driving downtown, finding a parking space, missing work, etc. And then doing it again next week, because they need more views. No thanks. I like my podunk little hospital.

 

[goldcupmom]

Praying for you! I went through the same thing 2 yrs ago next month. Scared the beejeebers out of me - especially since my DSis had just finished chemo/radiation for BC. All was fine, and my DH is NOT supportive at all either.

I go back for my yearly check w/ a breast specialist on Friday & I'm already stressing although I can't believe there is any reason. My DSis BC was in a place where a regular mammo wouldn't have shown (and she had never had one at age 54 anyway) - it simply HURT! So, I go 1x year to get an ultrasound w/ a specialist,.....just in case.

Keep us posted! Praying all is well & for your peace. BTDT!!!

 

[JudyS]

As a physician, I worry in a special way about people who don't want to follow my advice in terms of keeping themselves well. ....

Hmmm, so much for objections to my stance on mammograms going via email! OK, I'll respond here, if people insist on discussing it here. I will try to keep it brief.

I care tremendously about my health. I saw my mother die a slow death at age 64, and I don't want that to happen to me. So, I take a very pro-active stance on my health. As part of that, I see a number of doctors and other health professionals. I view them as paid consultants whose input I value in making health decisions. I do not, however, rely on them to actually make the decisions for me. In fact, it would be impossible for let the doctors decide what I should do, because they often give me contradictory advice. I once had my cardiologist tell me to keep eating my vegetarian, very low-fat diet while my endocrinologist told me it was essential to stop eating that way and go on a low-carb diet -- and I saw them only about a week apart.

When I have a health concern, I go to the original medical literature and read up on it. This used to be very difficult, time-consuming, and expensive, but it's now fast and free thanks to the internet. Anyone with an internet connection can go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez and search the U.S. National Library of Medicine's online database for free. Some of the articles are very technical, but many can be understood by a reasonably well-educated lay-person.

In fact, it's possible to contribute to the primary literature, as well as read it. I have no medical training, but my reading of the medical literature once led me to send some ideas to the New England Journal of Medicine, which were published as a comment.

I am a firm believer in evidence-based medicine. I've spent a while reading the primary literaure on screening mammography, and I've decided that the risks outweigh the benefits in my case. If new evidence emerges or my risk factors change, I'll reconsider.