Sign the Petition Against the new Mammography Guidelines
Comments
-
Tracey W. dx. age 48 stage 2 grade 3. If I had to wait till I wouldn't have made it.
0 -
Maureen Mortensen
MAMMOGRAMS: THEY DO DETECT EARLY STAGES OF BREAST CANCER!
Sometime in November 09, (48 yo), I found a lump (hard pea) while in the shower. My gyn replied that most people have a lump there and it's nothing to worry about. I thought the same thing at the time since it was found during the part of my menstrual cycle where "lumps" do occur. I scheduled for a mammogram anyway, for my annual routine checkup. Luckily I was able to get an appt within a month. My gyn sent me an email stating my mammogram was normal and to repeat in one year. Within a day or two later, I received a letter in the mail from my radiologist stating to come for a second exam since they found something and they want to rule out any malignancy. Within two weeks, I went to my radiologist, who did a sonogram and found the same lump I did. I had a biopsy three days later and they found it to be malignant.
On January 12, 2009, I was diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma. It was 11mm (which is small, about 1.5 cm). Most of it was found in the ductal part within the breast tissue. I opted to have a mastectomy of my left breast on 1/30/09.
After my surgery, the biopsy results returned. My cancer was not aggressive and didn't spread to my sentinel nodes so I am not taking chemo, just Tamoxifen, which will block the estrogen released by my ovaries from feeding any cancer that could be in my other breast. I needed to be monitored closely for ovarian, uterine cancers, as well as strokes. As it ended up, I had to discontinue Tamoxifen and had total laparoscopic hysterectomy. Now I'm taking Arimidex.
If I didn't schedule my mammogram right away, this could have been a different story.
IT'S SO IMPORTANT TO DO MONTHLY SELF-BREAST EXAMS (ABOUT 3 - 4 DAYS AFTER YOUR MENSTURAL FLOW STOPS) AND FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS.MAMMOGRAMS: THEY DO DETECT EARLY STAGES OF BREAST CANCER!
0 -
Why should we take a step BACKWARDS in detecting breast cancers? The current guidelines are saving lives every day. I welcome the opportunity to sign this petition AGAINST the new Mammography guidelines.
God's blessings to all survivors, & God's healing to all who are still fighting. Stay strong & fight hard!
Jenise
0 -
Diagnosed at age 47. No family history. Other than being a woman, I had none of the risk factors. BC often seems to strike randomly. Waiting until age 50 to get a mammogram is ridiculous. --Sue Knerr0
-
I was diagnosed at age 38. Waiting until age 50 means that insurance companies will not pay for them until then and most women can not afford to get them done unless insurance pays for it. Waiting that long will be a death sentence for many.
0 -
My 50th birthday was between my surgery & radiation treatments. I had no family history. But I did have several biopsies & cysts removed since I was 25. BC has made much progress in those years. That is why I am a survivor. Please don't change the mammography quidelines. I have 2 daughters- 23 & 27 I want them to have all the great early detections available that I had.
0 -
In honor of my mother who was diagnosed 19 years ago when she had her first mammography. She was cancer free for 16 years and later developed a second, more aggressive type of BC. She fought the good fight, with wonderful doctors and good care. ...she left us on May 1, 2009....but it was not the cancer that took her. Screenings have to begin at a young age and women must be able to avail themselves of all the tools necessary to give them a fighting chance against BC. In this way, more women can live long, happy lives.
0 -
No Family History, Benign cyst at 42, Her2 Positive at 49 1/2...... Found with that 'useless' self diagnosis. Was time for my mammogram, but I was living in Switzerland and the waiting list to get in for a test was 3 months. When I found the dimple (supposed to be in chins, not in breasts) - traveled 3 1/2 hours by train to a private clinic that would see me that week, they pulled strings in Zurich to get me in the next week for a biopsy (my calls were worthless, again, even with lump, still three month wait). Is this what we want for our healthcare system? Self Exams and Mammograms save lives. In one month my cancer grew from 1cm to 2.4cm....just think what 3 month delay would have meant....
0 -
Elizabeth Yarnell - The recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are an outrage!I had a biopsy at 52 - benign. Diagnosed at 54. DCIS was detected during a routine mammogram. Had no symptoms. Although my mother died of leukemia, my brother died of colon CA at 51, a maternal aunt had multiple myeloma and four other maternal aunts had breast cancer, I was not considered high risk for breast cancer. This is because I did not have a mother/sister/daughter who had breast cancer.
In addition, I took an online breast CA screening tool on the National Cancer Institute website. http://www.cancer.gov/bcrisktool/ It is designed to help a woman determine her risk factor for breast cancer. I projected back when I was 45, again at 49 and at 52, when I had the biopsy. All three results said I had about a 1.1 % to 1.5% risk if getting breast cancer in the next five years. According the the results, this means over a 98% chance of NOT getting breast cancer. Well, guess what folks, I got the beast, despite these stats.
A friend of mine had a routine mammogram at 45. They picked up a particularly agressive breast cancer at an early stage. She had NO SYMPTOMS. They told her had she waited another month or two for her mammogram, it might have been too late. She went through a year of agony of aggressive treatment. That was nearly 7 years ago. She is alive, healthy and working.
If the recommendations of the Task Force become accepted guidelines, I predict there will be in increase in breast cancer deaths due to lack of early detection and treatment.
0 -
my mother was diagnosed when she was 27 and passed away when she was 30 ( 20 years ago tomorrow) i think screening should go to a younger age not an older age! i am also BRCA1+
0 -
JENA L. in memory of my mother! no one deserves to lose a mother, sister, daughter, aunt, grandma, or friend because of some "guideline"!!!
0 -
Gina, Diagnosis age 42, IDC IIIA Triple Negative, high grade, extrememly agressive. Found tumor via routine self exam. No family history. 4 rounds chemo followed by bilateral masectomy another 6 rounds chemo and 30 radiation treatments. Under new guidlines I wouldn't have had a chance.
0 -
My mammogram saved my life. It found the IDC, then I qualified for a whole body PET/CT scan which found cancer in my liver!!! I would be dead by now of the liver cancer if it weren't for my yearly mamo!
Ruth
0 -
Renee Loyd > 45 yrs old dx 10/22/09 with IDC & DCIS found on a routine mammogram. Lump was deep and not palpable by myself or by the doctors. Found early enough to require partial mastectomy with radiation... No immediate family history of breast cancer! I DO MONTHLY SELF EXAMS....
0 -
Dx at 46. If I had to wait until my first mammogram at fifty my picture sure would be different.I "got through" with "just " a mastectomy. I cried with this outcome. I wonder if I could cry harder after 50?
0 -
Hi.
dx at age 39.. found lump through self exam but mammo confirmed cancer in two spots in breast, if I had had a baseline mammo done at age 35 when I was pregnant with my 4th child, I believe it would have been caught early stage instead of stage 3a. My doctors never ever suggested a mammogram. If I had known that a mammogram wasn't even that expensive, I would have requested one and paid for it myself.
It seems backwards to do less testing when the facts are that breast cancer incidence in younger women is increasing. Thanks for listening.
Wendy from Wisconsin
0 -
Diagnosed at age 31. Lump was initially discovered at age 29 and "watched" as a suspicious mass (which meant nothing-no more mammos were done). When my husband and I "re-discovered" the lump again at age 31, my breast was growing before our very eyes. Had it not been for the somewhat blasé attitude and approach my doctors had taken with me (due to age), I am confident I would NOT have ended up with stage IIa/IIb grade III breast cancer.
If one thing is obvious, the people who made these so-called guidelines have never dealt with breast cancer. I hope and pray that these people think this through a little bit better before it is one of their own family that ends up dealing with breast cancer treatment while trying to raise a 15 month old boy (the situation I was faced with). No woman should have to face this if it is unnecessary. Please-haven't enough of us?
0 -
I was diagnosed via digital mammography with IDC and DCIS at age 43. Am BRCA negative. Family history would not have been a factor. Thanks to mammography and the eagle eyes of an excellent radiologist, my cancer was caught very early. It was too small to be found via self exam. However, it was caught just in time as the characteristics showed it to be quite aggressive. My oncologist informed me that I should get a T-shirt that says "Mammography saved my life".
To this end, as you might expect, I am somewhat distraught by the new recommendations. I would have been one of the "statistics" that fell through the cracks if the new guidelines had been already in place and enforced. It kind of feels like my case (and many others) do not count based on statistics.
While it is true that more women get "false negatives" in the under 50 group, the truth is that if a cancer is caught under 50, it is more likely statistically to recur. Net, early detection and treatment is especially important for women in this age range. As far as I am concerned, one "real" positive, caught, treated and life saved is worth all the false negatives. I will continue to encourage my friends between 40-50 to get their mammograms.
Jill
0 -
Genise Dolores Greene Diagnosed age 51.No family hx of breast cancer
0 -
Nancy C - Diagnosed June 2004 age 39 HER 2 + ER- / PR- 4 Months Chemo. 1st recurrence June 2005 Mets to liver Chemo 6 Months Herceptin every 3 weeks - 2nd recurrence Sept. 2009 Continuing Herceptin w/33 Radiation treatments.
For my many friends and family diagnosed with BC 10+ all but one under 50 years old. I don't know who they were studying, but it couldn't have been women under the age of 50 or for that matter I have to ask if women were involved at all!
0 -
meima - no family hustory
0 -
CarolJune: I was diagnosed with BC twice...both times as a result of self exam...mamograms did not 'show' the initial DCIS followed by a bilateral masectomy at age 47, or the Stage 1 'recurrent' invasive ductal BC 5.5 years after the DCIS diagnosis and 'treatment'. Both times I 'insisted' something was 'wrong' and insisted on biopsies. If I hadn't...I wouldn't still be here! So....not only do I think 'routine' mamograms should be encouraged starting at least at age 40....I think mamograms and screenings need to be improved upon. AT THE VERY LEAST....self-exams need to be taught and encouraged starting in our thirties (I know several survivors who were diagnosed in their 30's). I've also said women need to be 'tuned into' our own bodies and have faith in ourselves when we know 'something isn't quite right'....and then be prepared and willing to insist on being taken seriously. As you can tell, I am incensed over the new 'mamography guidelines'. Oh, and btw...I had genetic testing done and there were no positive 'markers'.
0 -
Nancy Vermilyea
0 -
Elise Reilly diagnosed at age 46. Found during routine breast exam by nurse practitioner. No family history.
0 -
Tabby Bryant--Diagnosed at age 45. Diagnosed Jan. 2009-LCIS; March 2009-lobular carcinoma; Double masectomies--May 2009. Calcifications showed up with my routine mammogram. Without the mammogram I would have no clue as to what was growing in my body, even though the mammogram did not, per se, find the cancer (but it was found through subsequent biopsies). Because I was fibrocystic I would have never found the cancer until much much later, so although I feel we should continue to improve mammograms along with other screenings, WE SHOULD NEVER GO BACKWARDS! Are we completely crazy in the country?? WE WILL FIGHT THIS.
0 -
Jean E. Age 42, no family history. Stage 2A. Found via a routine mammogram.
0 -
Carol Vierath, Upstate NY
Breast Cancer, no family history, found via Mammogram
I have a daughter who is in her 40s now and want to be sure she has the opportunity for mammograms so she can be diagnosed early if this disease should strike her.
0 -
Found the Cancer via Self Exam, No Family History even tho I tested positive for the BRCA gene.
Lani Carson, Huxley IA
0 -
Please don't change the guidelines that have already saved so many lives.
0 -
Found cancer on first mammo at age 41! Caught early I was able to avoid Chemotherapy. I then had the BRCA gene done and was BRCA2+. Mom died at age 29 from ovarian cancer. Last gyno told me I had nothing to worry avout, that her cancer was caused be a virus, and since I had always had clean pap smears I could wait 2-3 years before next pap.
Mary Krayeski Swiftwater PA
0
