They found something suspicious in my wife's mammogram

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

They picked up some calcium in my wife’s breast. Apparently, that can either be from an infection or from cancer. It was picked up in a screening mammogram so they’ve ordered a diagnostic mammogram next. The doctor said that even if it’s cancer, it would most likely be in the very early stage.

My wife’s sister was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago. It was advanced and she’s done well to survive so far. My wife was quite freaked out at the time and has been terrified. Her cousin also was diagnosed last year.

The second mammogram is scheduled for this Saturday and we should find out next week. We really hope that it’s nothing.

2

We also hope so.

FWIW, my wife had this as well. And it was nothing. Hang in there.

Regards,
Shodan

3

Hugs to you. Hope it’s nothing serious too, and keep us posted.

:slight_smile:

4

Warm thoughts and prayers being sent your way.

My wife had a mammogram a couple weeks ago after her doc discovered a misshapen lump in one of her breasts. She was immediately scheduled for a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound, and both came back negative for anything nasty. I’m sure your wife will have similar luck.

Keeping fingers crossed for both of you.

5

Keep us informed, if you can.

Your wife and the rest of the family are in my thoughts and prayers. Seriously.

6

I’ve had calcium of some sort in my last three mammograms (not an infection nor cancer, just “there”). The first time the results were completely panic-inducing, so please do cut your wife (and yourself) all the slack you can until you get the retest done.
Take deep breaths, and know we’re all praying for/sending hugs to you.

7

Best of luck to you and Mrs. Bayer.

8

Adding my best wishes and prayers for the two of you.

9

I have had this happen to me as well.

When they first spotted it, they brought me back in for magnified mammograms. Results inconclusive.

So they brought me in for a mammotone biopsy. That’s where I was strapped down to a mammogram machine, with my boob in a vise, and then they shot a needle into my boob to take a core sample of the microcalcification. Painful and awkward as hell, but the process, from a science-minded point of view, was kind of cool. They also shot a tiny metal dog tag into my boob to mark the microcalcification and track it over time, to see if it grew. Results inconclusive.

So then they sent me to surgery for a wide excision biopsy. This was full-on surgery, but outpatient surgery. They took me to mammo (again – I had about 20-30 films taken throughout this process, over about six weeks. I was afraid all that radiation exposure would give me thyroid cancer, but they assured me it’s fine. I have my doubts. Radiation exposure is cumulative.) and shot a guide wire down to the little dog tag they’d previously shot into my boob. Surgeon cut down the guide wire, used a melon-baller (not really) to lop out the microcalcification, left a big dent in my left boob, and closed up my nipple. Yes, he went in at the nipple line. That really, seriously sucked to recover from. Results: benign. Except for the dent in my boob where there was tissue that is now missing.

I went through all that – with no partner or support of any kind whatsoever – completely terrified, only to find out it was just a teeny tiny spot of calcium. And now I have to see that surgeon every six months until five years are up. I’m in year three since that surgery. All subsequent mammos have turned up nothing. I never even had cancer, but I am treated like a BC survivor at the mammo place and at the surgeon’s office, which is also awkward and uncomfortable. I don’t deserve that kind of fawning attention – I haven’t been through jack compared to an actual BC survivor.

All I can say is chances are, it’s nothing, but it is impossible not to be scared shitless until you get a real lab result that says so. And there is a very small chance that it’s something, so you have to go through all that. While you are supporting your wife through all this, be sure to not let her jump to step 267 (“OMG, I’ve got to update my will since I’ll be dying of breast cancer next week!”) when you are still on step 2. It’s very easy to go there and let your brain make up scenarios. Maybe it’s easier without support and if I’d had somebody in my corner, perhaps I wouldn’t have let my imagination run so wild. What I made up in my head was 1,000 times worse than what reality turned out to be. So if you can keep her talked off the ledge and be her rock, good on you.

It also doesn’t hurt for you (not her – that was a bad idea) to do some googling about the diagnosis and next procedure. I got numbers that helped me talk myself down off the ledge because the chances of having breast cancer were extremely small.

My thoughts and atheistic “prayers” will be with you both.

10

I’ve looked at literally thousands of breast biopsies that were done because of irregular/suspicious calcifications found on mammograms. A large majority of them turned out to be benign. Calcification can occur in fibrocystic change, due to trauma, associated with other benign lesions like fibroadenomas etc. It can also be seen in in situ (noninvasive) or invasive carcinomas, which is why biopsies are done to be sure.

So while obviously I can’t provide complete reassurance to Mr. and Mrs. TokyoBayer I hope they won’t sweat it too much until the results are back (hint: most breast biopsies are diagnosed by the pathologist within 24 hours of receiving the specimen and the referring doc should have the results. You should not have to wait until the next scheduled visit or have other unnecessary delays before getting the report).

Anyway, best wishes, and try not to worry too much.

11

Scary as hell, but I’ll add my voice to the “try not to borrow trouble” chorus. Chances are its nothing, if its not nothing, chances are its early and curable. Keeping my fingers crossed for the first.

12

Fingers crossed for you guys, hoping it’s nothing at all. Try not to go too crazy while you wait for more tests.

13

I had that, too, and like your wife’s sister, it was something.

But it’s been 35 years and I’m alive and kicking. I hope it’s nothing, but if it’s not, I hope it’s an easy one.

14

I’m teaching about this in my stats classes. Basically we have a lot of false positives because the trade-off would be more women with a clean bill-of-health that have undiagnosed breast cancer. Not to say don’t worry about it, but rather chances are good it’s a false positive.

15

Another vote for try not to worry too much - I come from cyst-y folk, so we get false positives all the time.

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My first mammogram showed something just along the edge of the picture. Of course I got all anxious and panicky when they told me that and I had to go back for more pictures and an ultrasound. Ended up being lymph node in a slightly weird place. Now I have to get the extra smooshy up to the armpit and then some mammograms forever so they can make sure that tissue stays the same. Good times, but worth checking. Still, a couple weeks of unnecessary anxiety that I tried really hard to ignore.

My mom had a really early calcified but cancerous lump removed about 15 years ago. Caught really early and her treatment consisted of a lumpectomy and radiation treatments she did during her lunch. No one at her work ever knew (she was the HR person so did her own insurance stuff), and at the time the only family who knew were me and Dad. She’s had a couple benign calcifications since then, removed via biopsy, and so far so good.

My beautiful, early 30’s cousin, underwent the whole shebang of breast cancer treatment, cleared and cancer free, then diagnosed with a brain tumor six months later. She’s beat that, too! Still around and doing well!

Then there’s my friend who is currently undergoing chemotherapy, with surgery and radiation in the near future. Diagnosed with stage 2 in June, but apparently so slow growing her oncologist said it’s likely already been there for years. Yipes.

It’s just such a huge spectrum, it could be anything including nothing! Take care of yourselves and try hard not to get anxious unless there’s really something to be anxious about. I know, easier said than done.

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OK, thanks everyone. It’s troubling for her that her sister and cousin both have BC. From what I’ve read, it does look like genetics is a risk factor.

One of the difficulties for me is that the doctor visits are in Chinese so it’s harder to get a sense of how the doctor feels. They are terribly clinical here as well. “If it’s cancer, off it goes.” sort of thing.

The microcalcification is tightly clustered and linear, with what looked like a gentle curve. I’m kicking myself for not make a sketch like I used to for Pough-chan. Looking over the shoulder of the doctor, I’d guess an inch, give or take. I’m rather familiar with that part of the anatomy, so it’s not too hard to judge the overall size. It was harder to guesstimate diameters. The max maybe a couple of mm? It seemed to not be one solid line, more like clusters, but I’m not a doctor.

I had better luck with MRIs or ultrasound, and this didn’t look like it had as good of resolution.

The doctor picked it up quickly. He was reading the chart and zoomed in pretty quickly. It was a screening mammogram and it didn’t look like he was trying too hard to pick up details. The decision to have a diagnostic mammogram was made really quickly and without any hesitation.

(I got rather good at watching doctors’ and techs’ reactions to various scans from Pough-chan.) My WAG, knowing nothing but what I’ve read on line and here, is that it’s clearly enough to warrant another look, but there isn’t any particular idea now if it’s an issue or not. I’m also guessing that it’s too early to really think about odds. I’d be less worried if so many family members didn’t have BC.

I’m reasonably familiar with statistics, from my training as an engineer, and understand the false positives and all of that.

Fortunately, they move quickly here so we won’t have to wait that long. We should know within a week. I’ll update as we get more news.

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Sending good thoughts to you and your wife. Let us know.

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Sending good thoughts. I am straining for something more meaningful to say. You have enough on your mind, though.

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Sending good thoughts your way!