Mammo Guidelines Hot off the Presses

These newest breast cancer guidelines are a little more in line with my way of thinking. They are separate from ones issued earlier and contradict those recommendations to wait until you're 50 and then screen every other year.

These say to start at 40, screen every year, and women with a high risk by way of BRCA mutation or dense breasts should add other tests, too.

I don't like that they throw dense breasts in there at the end and say we should have a mammogram and a sonogram.

I've had sonograms, and they just aren't practical for screening an entire breast. I'm convinced it's a money thing that stops experts short of saying women with dense breasts should get a mammogram and an MRI. I think that's the proper recommendation, but at least this is a little closer to it than what's been out there so far.

I'll keep harping on it and hoping for the best.

I'll keep you posted.

Sure, Our Health System Works--If You Don't Have to Use It

It's been a little over a week now that I've been trying to set up a bi-lateral breast MRI to finish my checking on things for this year. A nurse from my ob/gyn's office called to set up a left breast MRI--one for my reconstructed side.

She said the doctor wrote orders only for the one side. I'm thinking she's thinking that a clear mammogram and sonogram on the right side should mean that's fine so no need for an MRI on the right. But I know that's not necessarily the case.

After all, I had two, 2.5 cm. lumps that didn't show up on a mammogram--nothing, all clear--according to a mammogram. Except it was really high-grade multifocal invasive ductal carcinoma. And, while a sonogram did identify the lumps as cancer, you can't screen an entire breast with a sonogram.

So, no, a mammogram, and even a mammogram/partial sonogram combination, is never enough ever again for me. I have to have a mammogram so insurance will let me get to the next step. So I will have one, but then I will always need to have an MRI to make sure things are indeed clear.

The nurse said something about the doctor needing to review my history before changing the orders, and someone will let me know. I think I have to make an appointment to discuss this with the doctor. She's not going to find anything wrong unless she knows what she's looking for.

Really, it's an error of omission--the kind people don't usually spot. All my mammograms have said clean, and that's the problem. The first one, done three years before I was 40 because I felt something way off, should NOT have been clear.

I'm frustrated this is so difficult. I'm annoyed that this ob/gyn is not the same one I had when I was first diagnosed, so she doesn't know my story. That ob/gyn never saw me during my cancer diagnosis. She didn't even take over from the PA when it turned out to be the big, bad thing. Her helper called me on Friday to deliver the news; I was putting my son down for a nap.

I'm frustrated there are so many reasons I have to change doctors simply because I actually got sick and now require someone to help me get the monitoring I need. I hope this doctor does get it and schedules the MRI. And I hope she does it soon, because I'd like to move on for this year.