Went in yesterday to have a mamoghram done. Ouch it hurt! This was the second I have had done. Guess the breast weren't as tender before. They squeezed the hech out of them this time. What a woman won't go through!!!!
Spoke with my doc today and if all goes right I will have SRS in October.

Deb

September?  Cool!  Any plans as to where and who?

Kristi

My first last fall wasn't too bad. However they called me back (a couple weeks ago) because of something there were not sure about.

This time they had me stay while the Dr read the results. Well she had to retake and retake about five times before the procedure brought the final verdict that all was ok.

Pain? Well uncomfortable to say the least. What is more memorable to me is the feeling that they keep those various sized clamp thingies in the deep freeze until just before you walk into the room.

It is worse when they do find something and have to remove it.  I had a tumor taken out of my right breast 20+ years ago, the doctor I had was a nice one, but he wasn't able to do the surgery so his parntner did.  This guy had fat pudgy finger and evidently poked around in there for quite a while.

Sarah L.

I thought you didn't need to have a mammogram until you were around 40.  I've had a couple of breast exams, but that's it.

Melissa

I have never had a mammography, my SO has and she started them around 50.  My tumor was relatively large (around the size of a small tangerine) and very easy to feel with your fingers.  It was non cancerous.

Hence my right breast is about half the size of my left breast.

Sarah L.

Quote from: Melissa on March 09, 2007, 04:19:24 PM
I thought you didn't need to have a mammogram until you were around 40. 
Melissa

true melissa, mammograms aren't required until you reach 40.

Quote from: melissaI've had a couple of breast exams, but that's it.

same here. 

how strange, debisl!

Isn't it better to be safe. There is so much breast cancer going on today. I do not want to be one of those staistics.

Deb

Quote from: debisl on March 09, 2007, 10:38:05 PM
Isn't it better to be safe. There is so much breast cancer going on today. I do not want to be one of those staistics.

Which is why you should be doing monthly self breast exams.

Melissa

Breast exams and mammograms should both be done.  My spouse had a mammogram in April of 1992 and it came back negative.  Later that year, in August, she found some lumps in her right breast.  Four days later she had a modified radical mastectomy, 7 out of 15 lymph nodes were also infected.  6 months of chemo followed.

The cancer she had "fed" on estrogen, so she had to take an estrogen blocker, tamoxifen, for seven years after that throwing her into an early menopause.  But she beat a cancer that had a 70% mortality rate!

Yeah, especially if your family has a history of breast cancer, if you're taking estrogen it pays to be careful.  One of the girls in my spouse's cancer support group was 28 years old, so age, really, just changes the odds, not the opportunity, for a cancer to start growing.

One of my concerns, though, is the possibility of outing yourself when you go to get it done.  Has anyone ever had such an experience?

hugs & smiles
helen

Quote from: HelenW on March 10, 2007, 09:13:27 AM
Breast exams and mammograms should both be done.  My spouse had a mammogram in April of 1992 and it came back negative.  Later that year, in August, she found some lumps in her right breast.  Four days later she had a modified radical mastectomy, 7 out of 15 lymph nodes were also infected.  6 months of chemo followed.

Which just goes to show that mammograms can't detect everything.  Monthly self exams should be done.  It is recommended to only start having regular mammograms after 40 and that's a number for GG who have been on estrogen far longer than many of us.  Congratulations on her beating the cancer though.

As far as doing the "other" self exam for pre-ops, I really can't do anything.  Mine don't feel quite normal and I already had them checked out, but it came back as being fine.  I just kind of gave up trying to sort out all of the various textures there (some which are lumpy).  I'm just hoping nothing happens before SRS.

Melissa

I used to work in mammography and while it's true you should do regular self exams, mammography can find masses long before they're palpable to touch.


Karen Lyn      

Depends on the insurance for sure. We did lots of women in their 20's and 30's base purely on family history and the company picked up the tab. It's one of the few nice things I can say about our company.


Karen Lyn      

Thank you all for commenting.
After I have cryed my eyes out I have decided to reply. You see I lost my mother to cancer when I was young. My father died in a small plane crash a year later. I was raised by my grandmother who lost both of her breast to cancer. There is a history in my family. I just wanted all of you to be safe. We have invested so much into becoming a woman, it would be ashame to have to take a back step for avoidable problems.

Love Ya Deb

Awww, I'm sorry about your loss.  It was the fact that you said it so nonchalantly as if it were normal for somebody your age to get regular mammograms that threw us.  If your doctor ordered it because of a strong history that is one thing, but normally it is not done until you are 40.  Also, genetic women have usually had a full female dose of estrogen in their system since puberty and so the ones who develop it in their 20's or 30's have had it coursing through them for a good 10-20 years.  In a sense, we who are starting around 30 are lucky in that we will normally be starting our mammograms after only 10 years of it being in our system.

Melissa

P.S. I've had a grandma and an aunt die due to cancer, so I understand as well.  I believe both started with breast cancer, but it spread and it was a different type that actually killed them.

Cancer runs in my family as well.  I do monthly examinations and asked my endoc about this.  She told me it would be awhile before I really had to go and get one done.  She has been pretty dead on for everything else plus she does an examination everytime I see her (about once or twice a year).