Sign the Petition Against the new Mammography Guidelines
Comments
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Laurie Owens -Diagnosed at age 45 - no family history. Found it with a self-exam one month prior to my anuual mammogram. Alive because I got to my gynecologist quickly who rapidly got me to the right specialists.
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Sharon
I've been having mammograms since I turned 45. A non-palpable lump was found when I was 55 - it had been there a while, but the switch to digital mammography found it. A lumpectomy, radiation, and hormone therapy (along with a lot of finger crossing and prayers) and I'm fine.
I'm worried sick about my 2 daughters. I keep hearing about younger and younger women getting breast cancer - it breaks my heart!
What does anyone want to bet that they continue to push men for prostate cancer screening?
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As always, I look for facts to support an emotional response.
FACT: 19,000 to 38,000 women are diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer every year. (10-20% of roughly 190,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in the US each year[1])
FACT: Triple negative breast cancer occurs most often in younger women and African-American women [2], commonly premenopausal. The average age of menopause, per the US National Institute of health, is 51 years old [3].
FACT: Triple negative breast cancer recurs in 32% of patients within 5 years, and the average survival time for TNBC after recurrence is 9 months [1].
I know statistics can be manipulated and research is often conflicted, but by my calculations that works out to be 6,080 to 12,160 women in the US every year who have a recurrence of triple negative breast cancer and DIE within 9 months from this cancer that is prevalent in women under 51!!!
That's only for triple negative cancer, which is a very small subset of breast cancer cases!
FACT: I am one of the 19,000-38,000 women diagnosed with TN breast cancer last year, and I was 39. My 5, 8, and 14 year-old children, my husband, and family and friends are hoping I'm not one of the 6-12,000 THOUSAND who will die of it.
Wow.
Sources:
[2] http://ww5.komen.org/KomenNewsArticle.aspx?id=7482&terms=triple+negative+ag
[3] http://www.nia.nih.gov/healthinformation/publications/menopause.htm
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BSE at age 50 found lump just 6 months after clear mammo; IDC stage IIB grade 3, 2/10 nodes
pre-op MRI found contralateral LCIS, pleomorphic
bilat lumpectomy, rads, chemo and 2yrs NED and followed closely with digital mammo/MRI every 6 months
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- diagnosed at 45 completely shocked - spiculated mass on chest wall, IDC and several areas of DCIS. Would not be around to age 50 if I had to wait. Diagnosed 1/2/08 at 9:15 am. Mastectomy 1/14/08, chemo started 2/28/08 - waiting to hear about bone scan, (spot on sternum). Thank goodness I had a mammo in my 40's. I keep fighting the fight
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45 years old at diagnosis, found on Mammogram.
No family history, BCRA neg, 2 babies before 30, nursed both babies for year, started menses after 12.
Triple +++ (3% of breast cancers are triple positive); I am told that my dx was unconventional, aggressive and fast growing given my history and I was "lucky" this was found on mammogram so early.
Also told byt two Oncs my "type" is from "the environment" (exposure to hormones in either birth control pills, meats or dairy products, or, something else in the environment).
The mammogram may have saved my life, before the age of 50.
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Janet Z-dx 37 years old DCIS stage 0 found on mammo. NO family history. Age 54 LCIS in other breast.
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I was 48. I did not have a lump. I have no family history of BC. I had DCIS Stage 0, and aggressive. Lumpectomy and 7 weeks of radiation, and so far so good (4 years). Knock on wood. Dr. Weiss was my Dr., and she ROCKS.
If it weren't for mammos for women under 50, I would be dead now, and my autistic child would be an orphan. For what? An insurance company fiasco?
What better things could they put the money toward? New forms of Viagra???
My life means something. Women's lives are worth more than CORPORATE AMERICA.
Everybody, burn your copy of the Breast Book.
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I was diagnosed at the age of 45. No family history...
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I was age 39 (almost 40) found the lump myself, first ever mammo(at age 39) showed a shitload of calcium deposits and of course the lump. mastectomy, 6 months of chemo, next mammogram..a year later, not 2 like the newly suggested showed calcium build up in my other tata and another mass.
I am at the 2 yr. mark since diagnosis this month and refuse to give in to this disease or the U.S. Preventative Service Task Force!!!! No family history...but now my daughter will...
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Joni J, diagnosed at age 40 thanks to a mammogram
50 is just too late
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Melody Krasneski dianosed at age 49. My first mammogram! No family history.My gyn gave me a breast exam , I did self exams. Mammo detected it , not me or my doctor. We don't have a cure YET. Until we do , if a mammo saves just one life , like mine , its worth it. Just ask my son , my mom , my sister , and all my friends! Please , until theres a better tool , or a cure , don't stop giving mammos to 40 plus. Thank you
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I had yearly mammorgrams and breast exams by md not found by exam but on mammogram in one year it went from normal mammogram to stage 3 with 5 postive nodes, that was 2 years ago still doing well so far.
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Teresa A. Albright
Diagnosed age 47 thru routine mammogram. Lump could not be felt. My oncotype was 47...so that was almost 3 years ago....I might not be here now.
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Donna L Berka. dx age 53-- extensive mets. A mammogram earlier would have found it.
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Mammogram showed suspicious calcifications. MRI revealed probable cancer. Biopsy confirmed it. No family history. Diagnosed age 42.
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khoover13 - was first diagnosed in 2003 at age 43 with precancerous ductile cells found by mammogram - removed by lumpectomy - June 2009 at age 48 diagnosed Stage IIIb Inflammatory Breast Cancer. I would not suggest that any Woman wait for or on anything when it comes to your breast. Be vigilant, Be persistent, Be loud, Be heard.0
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Anne Mullally - Diagnosed at 36.
Had pain in my left breast - denied mammogram in 2004 because I was "too young for breast cancer."
found lump during BSE - got mammogram - diagnosed stage III grade III 7/21/06. treatment included dose dense TAC, left mastectomy, radiation, tamoxifen.
re-diagnosed stage IV 3/18/08. treatment included radiation two times daily, xeloda, abraxane, carboplatin, avastin, femara.
I need to ask: could most of this been avoided if I had received the mammogram I asked for?
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Dear Anne, your case would have been detected earlier if the doctor in 2004 had sent you for a diagnostic mammo. The current proposed stupid guidelines would not change that. Your doctor screwed up. Diagnostic mammos and screening routine mammos are different things.
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Kathy N. dx age 39 NO Family History The only reason I can see that we all have this disease, is being human and mostly being a woman!
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The important fact is that in 2004 my doctor thought I was too young at 34 even though we currently begin screening at 40. What does the future hold for women in their 30s if the new reccomendation is followed. There is already a misconception by most doctors who don't recognize there is a risk of breast cancer in the younger population, and it is growing. I had no risk factors other than being female. This gave my doctors a false sense of me being too young. I feel many more young women will be brushed off by their doctors because of the new guidelines. This is a very dangerous situation.
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Dear Anne,
I don't like the new guidelines. I see where you are going with the misconception issue and I agree that that's a risk but I still have to say that your doctor screwed up in 2004. No matter what the guidelines say, once a woman or a man reports a breast lump that does not go away in a month a doctor should get it diagnosed irrespective of age.
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How about we propose that they screen men for prostrate cancer and colon cancer only after 80? That should knock some sense into the idiots who are very likely men and came up with these new proposed guidelines.
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Moi - my copy of Susan Loves Breast Book went out with the weekly trash on Tuesday. It felt good to throw it away!
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Colette Lee diagnosed age 46. No family history. Find something new and effective, before they take away the Mammogram !!!!
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Diagnosed the week after my 46th birthday, no risk factors. Found a lump, my primary doctor checked it out and told me it didn't feel like anything concerning. I was due for my yearly mammogram so I went and there it was. The next week my mother got her mammogram a bit early so she could come and help me during chemo, and the mammogram detected her breast cancer. We are both still here.
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Jill Gay - I was diagnosed at 33 years old with IDC, no family history.
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Reading all these posts, I think that not only should they KEEP current guidelines for annual mammos after 40, they should also ADD recommendations for at least a couple of screening mammos when we are in our 30s.
Or, since the Task Force in its infinite wisdom is so worried about unnecessary radiation in routine screening and since they think MRIs are too expensive, what about recommending ultrasound for younger women as an initial tool?
I live in Brazil and here breast ultrasound is part of routine gynecological checkups. It is non-invasive and cheap. The difference in density between water-filled cysts and solid tumors is very easy to pick up.
The lump I found when I was taking a shower, ten years ago when I was 39, did not show up on mammogram. All they could see on it were some calcifications. That was before digital technology, maybe today they would have been able to to see it. But my lump was very clear on the sonogram they ran.
They could do sonograms routinely for younger women and if that shows anything suspicious, do a mammogram to follow up.
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Mary F.-dx age 45. My breast cancer was very small and found on a mammogram. If it had been found five years later, the outcome may have been very different.
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Carolyn Bibb - dx age 41 as the result of a mammogram
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