15 years free of disease; still terrified of mammogram!
In 2010 I was dx’d with stage 1 early breast cancer, no nodes. Treated with lumpectomy clear margins, radiation and AI. Since then, God has blessed me with 15 years of no recurrence. 🙏🏻
Despite 15 years, I know there is still a risk and every year I’m terrified! Tomorrow morning is my mammogram. Sometime after year 5, I was moved from Breast Clinic to hospital FP for my care. Last year hospital changed policy and I received a screening mammogram and waited 2 days for results. I’m having a screening mammogram tomorrow as well. Prior to this they were all diagnostic mammograms, waited for 5-30 minutes and was given my results. If there had been problems, they would have brought more back then for more images. Often my husband and I would celebrate by eating out!
This is second year of the screening exam and I get my mammo then leave. Wait for results in patient portal. If abnormality, they’d call to schedule appointment. Since my mammo is tomorrow (Thursday morning), I’m curious how soon I’ll hear. Would love to hear by weekend. Was told results are ready in 4-8 hours, but last year I waited nearly 2 days.
Q: How long does it take to receive your results and how did you receive them?? Screening or diagnostic? Does risk go down after 15 years? 🙏🏻
Comments
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The word “scanxiety” was coined for a reason. It’s normal to be worried that a medical test might show a problem and mammograms are no exception. I have the opposite problem. My bc was missed on three mammograms (a questionable read followed by two bad reads) so getting a clear mammogram makes me wonder if something was missed. I’m still on the diagnostic routine and the NP always asks why I don’t seem thrilled about the good news.
Some hospitals now use AI as a second read which can delay the reporting of results. For ER+ cancer the risk of recurrence remains the same but most people learn to live with the uncertainty until the next mammogram is due.
I hope you get a good result. You should still go out and celebrate even if it’s not on the day of the screening.
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