ABUS callback and panicking (again)
I’m hoping I can get some support again this go around from all of you wonderful ladies!! I am a 40F and I posted in here last year when I had my first ever Mammogram a couple months before I was to get married. They found a mass that required repeat testing and eventually a core biopsy. I ended up with 4 mammos, 3 HHUS and one biopsy. After being ignored by my doctors office for weeks when they had results sitting on the doctors desk without a call it ended up as a fibroadenoma, thankfully! But it still didn’t cause me any less anxiety and honestly I think PTSD a year later when I went for my second annual mammogram last week. My heart rate on my Garmin watch was up to 130 bpm while waiting in the waiting area to be called back. This time I went to a different doctor and referred by her to a different breast center an hour away. They did a 3D mammogram this time as well as an ABUS (whole breast automated ultrasound). I got a call the same day that said my mammo was negative, great news and I was so happy they called back same day vs days of waiting with my anxiety. I figured if that was good the ultrasound had to be as well as last time it was the mammo being positive that started the whole ordeal. I was wrong. A few days later I got a call that my ABUS found a 6mm hypo echoic mass, same size as last year, and also hypo echoic like las year as well as same breast but different location this time. Commence freak out again.
I know that preventative care is ideal but this is really making me not want to go for my yearly screenings anymore. Plus it’s making me upset I had the ABUS instead of just the mammo. I have category 2 fibro glandular breast tissue which I was told wasn’t too dense and usually doesn’t warrant ABUS Yes I know that catching it early if it is the dreaded C word is great! But I still don’t like being in this position…again.
Has anyone in here had a negative mammo and a positive ABUS?? Or just a positive ABUS? I know next to nothing about the ABUS as it’s a newer technology. I’m not sure if it’s the same type of thing where they tell you with your first ever mammo that you have a higher chance of recall as it’s the first one ever? Is the ABUS the same? Is it know for errors due to artifacts or shadowing or technician error? Or even me if I breathed wrong or was laying weird? I can’t seem to find much about it online except it’s usually used AFTER a mammo comes back positive not as a screening tool.
I’m trying to not panic but my previous experience has really tarnished my mind in regards to this now. Plus they called me Friday with the news so I’ve been having a not so great Mother’s Day weekend.
Any advice, experiences and or support is most welcome!!
Thank you!