Are You Aware of the New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines?
I am pretty sure that if the new screening guidelines for breast cancer had been in effect in 2003 I wouldn’t be writing this today.
I wouldn' t be doing much of anything at all - because I would have died.
In 2003, I was a 51-year-old woman who went to her spin class four days a week . I had yearly mammograms, beginning when I turned 40.
I had no risks for breast cancer- no one in my family had ever been diagnosed with it.
At 51, I had two “normal” physical breast exams conducted by my GP and OB GYN only six weeks before my yearly mammogram.
My mammogram showed 2 tumors- both my OB GYN and GP swear these tumors didn't exist six weeks earlier when they examined me. That’s how fast my cancer was growing.
If I had followed the new guidelines I would have had a mammogram every two years starting at 50. My 52nd birthday might have been celebrated by a memorial service held by my family, friends and my teenaged son.
I am appalled at these new guidelines and wonder how much it has to do with cost saving instead of life saving.
Statistics may have lead to these guidelines, but what about the woman behind the statistics?
That woman may well be your wife, your mother, or your best friend.
Unnecessary biopsies and the accompanied stress leads to the words we most want to hear:
“You don’t have cancer. The tumor is benign. You are fine.”
How I wish I had heard those magic words on May 26, 2003.
Afterall, it was a mammogram that saved my life.
Marcie Beyatte
Author/photo essayist
mbeyatte@mac.com
www.marciebeyatte.com
Comments (1)
In 2001, I was a 29-going-on-30 year-old woman. I had a painful & swollen lump in my right underarm. No family history of breast cancer, but my own history of cancer (non-breast). I finally went in for an exam that August after my 30th birthday. The surgeon stated I was too young to need a mammogram considering the lack of family history, but did one w/ an ultrasound anyway. The result? "Nothing to worry about. 90% chance it would never become malignant. Stop drinking caffeine and eating chocolate. If it still bothers you, we can remove it."
Fast forward to August 2005. I'm now living in Vegas and 34 years old. I go in for routine exams and a follow-up to the previous mammogram due to continued irritation and inflammation in my underarm. Referred to a surgeon who removes the lump. Follow-up visit: It's cancer. The tissue was inflammed due to the malignant growth in that area. May have even been cancer the whole time. No chemo or radiation was needed. He got it all.
To hear that 'they' don't even want doctors teaching women how to perform a home breast exam surprises me, to say the least. Afterall, this is what saved my life. The standards doctors were following 10 years ago could have killed me because they have it engrained in their brains "If it's painful and there's no family history, then it's not cancer". The majority of women who develop breast cancer do NOT have a family history.
Instead of focusing on ways to save money on 'unnecessary' diagnostic tests, 'they' should be focusing on the CAUSES of breast cancer and eliminate THOSE.
From a fellow survivor