Sign the Petition Against the new Mammography Guidelines
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Judy, Dx age 42 in yearly mammo. No family history (at all!) or other risk factors. Mammo caught the tumor in stage 1. Tumor was against chest wall and without a mammo it would not have been felt until it was well into my lymph nodes. Had I listened to these guidelines, my two children, ages 8 and 10, would be without a mother. (I'll be, knock on wood, 47 next week) It's shocking how irresponsible our government has been on this one. Sorry, Mr. President, but this was NOT the change I was waiting for. I can't help but wonder whose pockets were lined by the insurance companies on this one!
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Leila....why would you say that?
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lang...I also didn't vote for Obama to turn this down....what's up with this? My poor husband had to hear me rant and rage about this possible change. Once it goes into effect, insurance companies will jump on it! Don't take my medical tests and access away from me because I have boobs. Its bad enough that I only have one head light now!!!
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LaurieJ- Diagnosed at 43 Stage 3 Grade 2 Double Mastectomy, Chemo Strong Family History
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I am signing the pledge.
Beverly Sheeks, Diagnosed, July 2, 2005
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bookroom
I kept doing that too. So just post that you are signing the pledge and lets hope that counts. Blessed be and goodnight.
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Laura Jambrosic
BRCA 1 and 2 negative.
Lump could not be felt
40 years old... Mammogram done at yearly...
Mamo found cancer... US confirmed. HER2+
it was already in nodes...
41 now.
THANK GOD for the mammogram ... if not.. I would have been in the 3% Dr. Love feels it is ok to WRITE OFF....
Laura Jambrosic.
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Diagnosed at 53 -- new guidelines would have missed me for a year (cancer undetectable by touch) and likely would have been far more advanced when found. Pathology report indicated it was close to invasive and an aggressive type.
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Laura Revels
First time diagnosed at 43: SBE and confirmed with a mammogram.
Second time diagnosed at 47: Mammogram. I am now one year of no evidence of disease - early detection SAVED my life as a it did of 2 of my friends, please do not change the present guidelines.
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Diagnosed Sept. 20th, 2009 at 40 years old. Prior to diagnosis consisdered LOW RISK.
I wonder if anyone factored in what it would mean for society to have more motherless children?
What about the single mothers that would die?
How do you factor in endless grief when you lose a young spouse or partner?
My life has more value than anything you could write down in your paperwork!!
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I am signing my signature AGAINST THE NEW (November 2009) GUIDLINES recommended by the U.S....Task Force.
My cancer was diagnosed when I was 47; I was told it had been in me for at least 5 years or more. There was NO KNOWN FAMILY HISTORY of breast cancer. I was diagnosed at Stage One; but, in 2004, ten years after my first diagnosis, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic disease to many, many bones, including vertebrae & pelvis -- the very bones that hold you UP. I had to have a total hip replacement, and yet my hip is STILL not correct. I was extremely active & athletic before & danced 2-4 nights a week. Now I can barely walk a third of a mile; and I pay the price when I do (this is one year AFTER the THR & Phys Therapy). The Task Force's study is FLAWED in PART because it looks at death ONLY when considering the VALUE of mammograms. They should be asking about LIVING WITH CANCER, not about DYING FROM CANCER. The women who have mammograms where cancer IS found will all LIVE with cancer, even if their life is only brief. THE QUALITY OF THAT LIFE IS AFFECTED BY THE STAGE AT WHICH DIAGNOSIS IS MADE!!!!! I know this. I lived with Stage One cancer -- it was a breeze, for ME. I've been living with Stage Four for the last five years, and it is NOT a breeze at all; and I fear the worst is yet to come! SO, how DARE these researchers THREATEN the Quality of Life of Women Yet to be Diagnosed by ASKING THE WRONG QUESTION! IF MAMMOGRAMS HELP WOMEN FIND THE CANCER AT STAGE ONE OR TWO INSTEAD OF STAGE FOUR, THEIR QUALITY OF LIFE WILL BE IMMENSELY IMPROVED!!! By the way, I am mixed-race, being part AFrican-American and part Caucasian. When one of the researchers from the Task Force was asked if race were taken into account by an NPR journalist, the statistician's reply was "no". So, all in all, I find it interesting that 15% is NOT considered statistically significant, and that altho it is known that women of color tend to have more virulent cancers, that race was not taken into account.
I HOPE I have signed the petition by posting here. Please contact me if I need to do something else to sign it. Thank you for HAVING the petition!
I
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OK.... AMAZING.. you take all of us here..
after taking all the late 20"s... and 30's and 50's and 60's first dx.
The majority of us here.. were in our 40"s. WOW.. do they think we are making this up?
In other words... at least on this site... BCO.. the majority where UNDER 50 when the mamo picked up their cancer.
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Janine B - dx age 43 in 2005. BC was discovered during a breast reduction.
My mother was dx. at age 64 (a year prior to me). BC was found with a mammogram.
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I was diagnosed at age 49 after finding my lump; it did not show up in mammo months earlier; get MRIs annually now. My father's mother was diagnosed at the same age; she lived a long life after her mastectomy. I am very concerned about the new guidelines and the confusion that may result. Early detection, self exams and mammograms for women in their 40's all seem like common sense to me. Let's not go backwards on this.
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My wife was diagnosed with IBC on Sept 2006 at the age of 46
It was the mammogram which made her doctor to ask for an additional u/s
Should she waited till the age of 50 she wouldn't be arount to ask for a mammo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Discovered through regular, ROUTINE mammogram. Age 54, both ductile and lobular invasive. No lymph nodes. Early detection saved my life. But cancers found in younger women tend to be discovered later and are more advanced--these are people with their whole lives ahead of them. Don't let their lives be sacrificed in the name of statistics.
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Breast cancer strikes me twice, and in both instances they were detected by mammography. First diagnosis at age 50.
Brenda
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I was diagnosed at age 51 by routine mammogram.
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Diagnosis made by breast surgeon after I reported non responsive nipple to my gynecologist at age 60, 10/2004. Turned out to be grade 1, stage 2A. No lymph involvement. Was missed by a mamo 6 months earlier...probably would have been seen on a diagnostic digital mamo...Need to encourage regular mammos, not discourage them...My sister has Stage 4, diagnosed 9 years ago at the age of 50 on a mammo...I'm so angry at the new guidelines, I could spit !!!!
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Siona O'Connell Diagnosed age 40. No family history or risk factors.
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Because of early diagnosis at age 47 of a 3.5 mm invasive DCIS ER+/PR+ (0 nodes) through digital mammogram, I have an excellent prognosis. Even though my mother and grandmother have both had breast cancer twice, I was told by one doctor that I did not have a greatly increased risk of getting breast cancer. I'm certainly glad I did not listen to her.
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My tubular carcinoma didn't even show in a screening mammogram at 40. The dr said that side felt a bit 'thicker' and sent me for an ultrasound...and there it was. I couldn't even feel the thickening or the lump after the biopsy, so I would have been oblivious for a long time. There is no family history of any type of cancer or other health conditions.
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I live in the United Kingdom where screening starts at 50. If it started here at 40, my breast cancer would have been caught early. As it was I was at Stage III by the time I eventually got treated at age 48.
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Every woman needs to be screened from the earlier age. BC hits women of any age, some in their late teens.
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Onnell Daley. I was diagnosed last year. I was 41 years old. Now at 42 years old there is a recurrence.
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Lani MacAniff
I found a lump doing my monthly BSE, 10 months after a clear mammogram. Had I been following the recently-release recommendations (not doing monthly BSEs and getting mammograms every two years instead of annually), my tumor would have been Stage III or IV by the time it would have been discovered on my next mammogram. My mother, who had no family history of breast cancer, was diagnosed with breast cancer and lymph node involvement at age 47. Genetic testing wasn't recommended until I was also diagnosed.
In our instances, BSE and screening before age 50 were IMPORTANT.
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All of my life I've always heard "early detection is the key to survivability" and now they come out with this contradiction. In addition to my wife, I've heard of more women being dianosed with breast cancer the past year than I had in the 10 years prior. Folllowing the new guidelines, I'm afraid, is going to dramatically increase the cases. My wife has always had annual mammograms - last year hers was clear...this year the cancer was spotted, confirmed with a needle biopsy - and surgery scheduled. Every-Other-Year would have given the cancer another 12-months to grow.
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Diagnosed with DCIS with a yearly mammogram at age 51. No lump. Only needed surgery and partial rads, no chemo. If another year had gone by? Changes from previous mammo caught this early. Norma Shook
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Jennifer D.
ADH found during ROUTINE MAMMOGRAPHY at AGE 41-manifested as calcifications. Stereotactic biopsy followed by surgical biopsy(partial mastectomy). Pathology consistent w/ original diagnosis of ADH. Age, density earned me heavier surveillance and breast MRI. BREAST MRI at AGE 43 yielded a problem in the other breast, MRI guided biopsy yielded IDC stage 1 grade 1. 5-8 mm area consistent w/ MRI guided biopsy result. Lumpectomy, rads, tamoxifen. One year later PBM and DIEP. Yippee! ALL THANKS to EARLY DETECTION and following previous guidelines.
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Diagnosed at age 48 already had three nodes involved with tumor growing on outside of one node there for i am doing chemo now and then off to radiation for six weeks. Couldn't image waiting until I was 50. Who knows where it would have traveled from there. Early detection is the key.
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