They’ve recently changed from baseline at 35 to baseline at 40 - they were pushing them back each year - unless you have a family history.
Broomstick - call the Komen Foundation if the Cancer society doesn’t have anything. Komen also funds mammograms for low income women.
Process…here is how mine have worked. You go to the radiologist. They put you in what at my very nice suburban hospital is a very nice women’s waiting room. The tech has you change in a dressing room and put your stuff in a locker so you are wearing the top of a hospital gown. They put you back in the waiting room where there is soft music, herbal tea, and People magazine. It sort of feels like spa day - but it isn’t. After some amount of time (I don’t think mammograms tend to run on time) the tech gets you and brings you back to the room. We have digital mammography now, I’ve done both, the process is the same, but digital develops right there and lets the tech know by looking if she might need a second squish.
You stand in front of a large machine. The large machine has two plates on it. You stand and the tech adjusts the lower plate so she can plop your boob on it (my techs have always been female). She has you stand a certain way, until you feel like an awkward mannequin modeling swimsuits at Macy’s…seriously, "turn to the left just a bit, no too far, a little more. Put your hand here. Bend this knee, yes, like that. Lean back just…ok…good. Now hold it and don’t breathe. She grabs your breast, plops it on the lower plate, squishes the top plate down on it - it isn’t comfortable, but it doesn’t tend to be truly painful - its similar to having the speculum inserted during a pelvic exam - few people are going to do it for fun, but it doesn’t really hurt much - takes the picture as fast as she can, and then repositions the plate for the second view (two views per breast).
I find that it hurts like a sumbitch but only briefly. I take a Tylenol or two at least half an hour before the procedure, just to take the edge off. I do the same thing before the gyno exam.
And never, ever, have the squashing done when you are tender due to PMS.
You most likely have a cyst or two. A friend just discovered that she has a couple and they are going to monitor her and have her back for another ultrasound in several months.
Let us know how it goes.
Broomstick, around here, there’s a cancer prevention program run through the health department that paid for my mammograms for several years before we had good insurance. They also paid for my pelvic exams, and would have paid for treatment if anything threatening had been found. And ours is a very poor county.
Our rough equivalent is cytoscopy and/or prostate exams, as far as discomfort and embarrassment go. I had to get a cytoscopy done after I was in the hospital for cellulitis three years ago, and I can definitely tell you I’m glad I have about 15 years or more before they start becoming a regular thing.
ivylass, you’ve got my hopes that it’s benign. Good luck!
St. Germain - if your mother and sister both have had breast cancer, has anyone approached you about getting genetic testing? You may be carrying the BRCA-1 or -2 gene, which may help you make some further choices. Or you may not, which may help you make some further choices.
What she said. I have very dense, cysty tissue, so they squeeze the bajeezuz out of me, but it doesn’t last long.
Oh, and you have to hold your breath (at least they always tell me to), but that’s no big deal for me, because I’m usually sucking it in and holding it because of the pain anyway.
But it’s so worth it…if (and it’s almost more a WHEN than an IF) I get breast cancer like my mother and her mother before her, hopefully it’ll be found soon enough that I won’t have to have a double radical mastectomy like they both did.
I had my first mammo a week and a half ago, during my first “routine” physical in 10 years. The last physical I had did not go well at all (You have kidney disease, 1 in 7 die of aneurysms, blahblah I blanked out at that point but you should be familiar with it since it’s 100% hereditary. Did you NOT see the big red marker note “AM ADOPTED, NO KNOWN FAMILY HISTORY”?). Suffice it to say I was petrified.
Last Monday received a call - something irregular on the mammo. Made an appointment last Wednesday at the breast center for another mammo and ultrasound. I must say the people there were wonderful with my wreck of a self Okay, the repeated question of "Do you have a family history was grating my nerves, but anyways… The radiologist was the same who worked with my dad during his cancer, and dad spoke highly of him, so that helped. I’m also chock-ful-o-cysts, and have to back in 6 months for a recheck.
The phrase “We found something irregular” is terrifying. But to also know that there are so many new ways to combat it and so many more survivors than in the past is very comforting.
Hugs to you Ivylass. It’s a scary scary thought. I had a pap test come back CIN III in February and went throught the biopsies and had a LEEP procedure last week. Today I get the final diagnosis from the operation.
It is scary, those words. I can remember hearing them and being stung by them “carcinoma in situ” etc.
Thinking about you - and sending good vibes your way x
I have a consult with the breast surgeon next Tuesday. I must say, the doctors are all over this…all I’m having to do is sit back and wait for them to call me.
Thanks, ladies…I’m doing fine. Until there’s something to worry about, I’m not going to worry.
Although, Ivygirl threw me for a bit of a loop. I told her I had to go in for a biopsy because they found something in my breast. She chirps up, “Mommy has booby cancer!” and goes off to find Breast Cancer Awareness stickers for her Facebook page. :eek:
I asked her about it later, and she said that she was just preparing herself. Odd sense of humor, that one.
One of my co-workers went in for her mammogram about three months ago. It was something. A very bad something. And now she’s beating it. Prognosis is excellent and she’s feeling better all the time. So yeah, ladies, approach it with a sense of humor, but for heaven’s sake, get the ma’am-o-gram. Regularly.
Thanks for the reminder ivylass. I read this thread and remembered that I had my last manglegram the day Jerry Garcia died. I called and made the appointment.
:dubious: That’s a helluva way to celebrate my birthday. Nothing to add personally, since I’m only 27. But one of my aunts had a lumpectomy early this year and another one had to have a second look just a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll be ever-vigilant when my time comes.
Be ever vigilant now. I have had five people close to me or very close to people close to me diagnosed in the past few years. And they weren’t all old.
Best friend of a good friend who was diagnosed at 40 - the year mamograms started - lumpectomy, chemo and radiation - clear.
Aunt, diagnosed in her 60s. lumpectomy and chemo, clear.
Friend, recently diagnosed stage IV in her 50s. started chemo, had surgery, we have fingers crossed…
Sister, diagnosed at 38 (!), masectomy, chemo, radiation, clear.
Sister of a good friend - diagnosed at 35 (!), lumpectomy, chemo - waiting for her clear. But dianosed very early.
The last two were diagnosed before they had their first mamogram off of self identified lumps. My sister reached up to scratch an itch and felt it - despite being a nurse she wasn’t a regular BSEer. Get to be very good friends with your breasts.
My sister-in-law just went through an ordeal because she didn’t want to go get checked out, even though she knew she had a lump. Double mastectomy, chemo - but is now clear for 6 months, thank Og.
I’m big-breasted and dense and fibroidy, but it doesn’t hurt exactly. It’s uncomfortable. The worst “pinch” is the lymph node part under your arm. It’s over with quickly, though.
I’ve never seen a male boob tech. That would make me uncomfortable.
I met with the breast surgeon today. It’s called a Stereotatic Biopsy. He actually found the lump, and helped me feel it too!
So, I’m a bit more :eek:, but he did say 85% of these are benign. Unfortunately, the only way they can make sure it’s benign is to go in and take it out. I’m waiting for some researcher to invent a dye they can inject, so that the color turns blue if it’s benign and red if it’s not. They’ll also “tag” it so they can continue to chart it.
I’m expecting a call from the doctor’s office scheduling the surgery by the end of this week. I was going to be Brave SuperWoman and go to work afterward, but then I thought, I’ve got more than 4 weeks of vacation…take a day off. I think my boss will understand.
Thanks for all your hugs, prayers, support, and stories. I’ll keep you informed!
:eek:
