Sooooooo, is your mammogram scheduled? Are you on schedule? Are you taking an active stance in your healthcare?? These are important questions! I want to remind everyone, my cancer was "found" because I had missed several years (!) of mammograms for various reasons. I had gone in March 08 to get back on schedule. I had a physical exam by my ob/gyn at that time and was given no cause for concern. BECAUSE I had been off for several years, they asked me to come back for a six-month follow-up, in September. PTL! Had they not asked for that, I would just be getting ready to go for my annual mammo in March. Next month.
In addition, keep in mind that I had a physical breast exam by my ob/gyn and a mammogram. Both normal. In September, I had a mammogram and an ultrasound. Then a biopsy. No one could "feel" anything. They requested I have a biopsy on a suspicious site. That biopsy turned up positive for lobular cancer, which does not form "tumors" or lumps. It is more of a thickening of tissue.
I then saw a breast surgeon, who also did a physical exam--didn't feel anything unusual. He showed me my mammogram pictures and said other than the biopsy site, he didn't see anything that concerned him. He also sent me for an MRI.
The MRI showed another suspicious spot, right next to the biopsy site. This apparently didn't look suspicious on mammogram or ultrasound, since no one else mentioned it. Since I had already decided for a double mastectomy, we didn't feel it was necessary to wait longer and do another biopsy on that site. It was all coming out anyway, was my/our thoughts. (I decided to do the double after I asked him what he would tell his wife to do--and he said take it all off and be done with it.)
THEN--after surgery, the tissue studies found cellular incidence of cancer in MY OTHER BREAST! The one that showed NOTHING in mammogram, ultrasound, physical exams and MRI's! NOTHING. But cancer was there.
PLEASE stay on top of your own health. I know the Lord orchestrated my whole story because it's an amazing story with more twists and turns than I have shared here. Please know your family history and pay attention to any gut feelings. Do those goofy self-exams. Stay on schedule with doctor appointments and don't short yourself because it's expensive, etc. (The bill for my last chemo just came--$13000! That's just one treatment.)
Take care of yourself--for my sake! :)
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2 comments:
Amen to that, my friend!
And I would add to that, make sure you're getting your annual PAP/Pelvic exam as well. I, too, had left off seeing the doctor in too long. I was VERY lucky that my cancer was caught early (ovarian is most often diagnosed at stage 4, while I was diagnosed at stage 1). These exams will not diagnose ovarian cancer (for now, only a CA-125 is the tool for that), but it's good to be up on all aspects of your health so you know when your body is telling you something is wrong!
My mammogram will be in April when the mobile van stops by campus -- I annoy all my co-workers to get signed up each year.
Just call me the Exam-Nag!
You did experience a lot of twists and turns! I've had a couple of times when I was called in for a sonogram after the x-rays. They found tons of cysts. Then the next year I'd go back, and they'd find nothing. My doc explained that where you are in your cycle can affect whether or not you have cysts. The first two weeks after a period are less likely to turn up cysts. If the doctor doesn't have to sort through cysts, it would be easier to spot cancer. However, after reading your story, I'm thinking that if cysts get them to go the extra mile, maybe it's a good thing because it increases their chances of spotting cancer.
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