Question for women over 40

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Mary_Gail_36

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I’m not asking for medical advice, just for your experience.

Have you ever had to repeat your mammogram?

I just had one and I need to repeat it and get a sonogram.

This isn’t my first time repeating it.

So I’m a bit scared. My Aunt had breast cancer.

The last time I needed to repeat it was 2 years ago. I had to get a sonogram. The sonogram person usually isn’t supposed to let you know anything, but I saw her marking up a round thing on the screen. It was a cyst. The 15 minutes it took for her to come back with the results were really stressful.

So this time I got called back the next morning.

My appointment is Monday.

On top of it, my DH forgot my birthday today. 😦 I would think that I told him I was concerned about my test, he would maybe make it a point to be nice. But he forgot my birthday. If my son hadn’t told him, he would have continued forgetting.

Anyway, sorry for the vent, my questions are: "Have you ever needed to repeat the mammogram? Have you needed to do so more than once? Did you feel stress or fear?

Thanks.
 
I don’t have a response, but I want to wish you a Happy Birthday!!! 🍰:dancing:
Prayers for your peace of mind and that it is just them being cautious about something that turns out to be nothing to worry about.

It is sweet that your son brought up your birthday. ❤️

Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry! St. Padre Pio
 
I know it’s hard…but better to find out something, and have it dealt with swiftly and move on. This happened to my sister. She went and something small removed, she’s just fine.

Happy birthday! God is keeping it all in His good hands. :grouphug:
 
First of all, Happy Birthday!! Yay to August bdays, mine is in August, too!

Secondly, yes, I’ve had multiple ‘repeat’ mammograms. I have a thickness in my breast tissue that the regular machines show as a problem. This gets me to the next level extra-torturous mammogram machine. I’ve always come out fine, but it is nerve wracking to to be told to go back. I do understand how you feel.

I’ll pray all goes well for you on Monday.
 
First, Happy Birthday! Wishing you a great year filled with many blessings.

Sorry to hear about the husband forgetting.

No, I haven’t had a repeat, but had them at a young age which was nerve-wracking. On the upside, a sonogram is very detailed and won’t give you radiation like the mammogram. Hang in there and know you are being showered with prayer.
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Yes, I’ve had repeat mammos done many times with sonogram follow-up, since my 20s. I’m now in my 70s. I have a history of cystic breasts which always show up as questionable on mammos & sonos. I’ve also had lumpectomies done for very thick questionable cysts. Thank God they have always turned out benign. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Praying for you to have good results.
 
Yes I did when I was about 40. Nothing came out of it. My sister had one and ended up having some cysts taken out or her breasts. None were cancerous. My mother had a similar thing happen when she was in her fifties.

So don’t worry and get checked regularly, given your family history.
 
yes I’ve been through this twice now. I had to have a core biopsy but praise God it was benign. Praying for you. Most of the time these turn out not to be cancer, I was told.
The type of suspicious looking abnormality I had the biopsy done on were benign 75% of the time I was told.

My dh never remembers my exact birthday, just the month it’s in.
I start hinting around about a week before with a joke:
“So are you going to take me out to dinner on my birthday?”
dh: Oh wow when is it again??
me: Next Wednesday.
dh: Oh good, yeah we’ll do something.

I honestly think he’d forget if I didn’t say something.
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
Anyway, sorry for the vent, my questions are: "Have you ever needed to repeat the mammogram? Have you needed to do so more than once? Did you feel stress or fear?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
If you have dense breast tissue or fibrocystic breasts, this is common. Very common, because the radiologist has trouble reading the x-ray due to the characteristics of the breast tissue. It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong.

Turns out fibrocystic breasts have low incidents of breast cancer and breast cancer doesn’t run in my family at all… so now I’m not worried about anything.

So, this time, maybe ask the doctor to spend some time with you and talk to you about whether maybe you have fibrocystic breasts-- which would explain a lot. Also, they can refer you to a specialist if you ever have to have a cyst aspirated. They call it “fibrocystic breast disease”… but I don’t think it’s really a disease IMHO… it’s so common… it’s the way some people’s breasts are.

Edited to add:
Some women develop fibrocystic breasts when they are older, other lucky people like me have always had them… my mom does too, apparently there’s a hereditary component.
 
Mine had to be repeated when I was about 50 - I worried more than I should have. I’m trying to avoid having another one. 😉

Since I have forgotten my own birthday & the birthdays of people I love very much (I could never remember my dad’s birthday), I don’t worry if anyone forgets mine.

Years ago my mother told my sisters & me a true story that made me realize there are more important things than being remembered on a birthday or another “special” day:

She was visiting with a neighbor woman who told her that both her husband & daughter (who was in her early teens at the time) had forgotten all about Mother’s Day. No card, no flowers, no gift - nothing. She told mom that she made husband & daughter so miserable over being “forgotten” that they would never again forget Mother’s Day.

Mom was horrified & told us to never worry about it - she didn’t want to guilt us into anything. Mother’s Day was coming up - and we all forgot it! Mom thought that was pretty funny. 😃
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
I’m not asking for medical advice, just for your experience.

Have you ever had to repeat your mammogram?

I just had one and I need to repeat it and get a sonogram.

This isn’t my first time repeating it.

So I’m a bit scared. My Aunt had breast cancer.

The last time I needed to repeat it was 2 years ago. I had to get a sonogram. The sonogram person usually isn’t supposed to let you know anything, but I saw her marking up a round thing on the screen. It was a cyst. The 15 minutes it took for her to come back with the results were really stressful.

So this time I got called back the next morning.

My appointment is Monday.

On top of it, my DH forgot my birthday today. 😦 I would think that I told him I was concerned about my test, he would maybe make it a point to be nice. But he forgot my birthday. If my son hadn’t told him, he would have continued forgetting.

Anyway, sorry for the vent, my questions are: "Have you ever needed to repeat the mammogram? Have you needed to do so more than once? Did you feel stress or fear?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Not only have I had to repeat the mammogram , there was this test and that search for an answer. Eventually, over time, I had the very beginning of cancer in the breast. My solution was to chop the breast off — I did not need it. Seriously, I did have stress, but not really fear, because I was making the right decision personally.

My point is to keep having mammograms, etc., etc., We all need to catch the cancer bug before it bites us. And if that sneaky cancer appears, there is so much help out there. There are so many ways to beat that silly cancer. My choice can be considered extreme. And I agree it was extreme. But I am the one who knows my personality …

We women are very important. Please take time to study what is going on in the world of breast cancer. Find a good doctor or a very informative nurse. There are lots of experts who are on your side.
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
So I’m a bit scared. My Aunt had breast cancer.
Click to expand...
I forgot to answer this. Only one of my aunts had breast cancer, so I didn’t think it was anything for me to worry about. My doctor told me that, except for certain not-very-common types, breast cancer isn’t genetic. It’s an equal-opportunity cancer. Oh well - I’m still not worried. Some might say I’ve got my head in the sand, but that’s all right. 😉
 
A very happy birthday to you 🙂 Your special day,sometimes I stretch ours to birthday week !
It is hard to try not to worry about tests,prayers you can distract yourself by being busy and be at peace perhaps offering that worry up for something in particular X
 
I did back in 2013 and I was freaked out. I never told anyone because I decided no one else needed to worry about something that I wasn’t even sure about. And I distracted myself by being excited about a friend’s book being released. Sonogram showed calcification in one spot and a tiny, benign, heart-shaped cyst in the other. Next mammogram the cyst had dissolved. TBTG
 
Happy Birthday,
It sounds like you are getting a thourough look over, which is a good thing. I hope the rest of your new year is better than this latest stressful medical testing.

Give your DH a little mercy. He’ll love you even more if you are kind to him about this faux pas.
 
I’ve had friends who have had to repeat mammograms and also have to have things biopsied. I think the good part is that the technology today sees everything, but it even sees things that ultimately turn out to be nothing of concern. I guess it’s a mixed blessing. For my friends, each one came back with an all clear. I’d like to tell you to try not to worry, but I go through the same thing when I have my skin checked (my mom died from melanoma). It’s easier said than done.

Will devote a Rosary decade tonight for you.
 
Yes. My very first mammo showed fairly dense calcium flecks throughout, on both sides. I was immediately sent to the surgeon (like next day) who immediately sent me to biopsy (this was at the Lahey Clinic, so if they were worried, I was worried). Even in advance of the biopsy, he said that while he couldn’t confirm it, he felt it was more likely than not that this was a problem and that both would be coming off, with chemo and radiation. He wanted me to have time to process that.

Turns out, it was basically left-over milk sludge. (This was at age 48 - I hadn’t nursed a babe in over 4 years.) He was surprised. I was relieved.

So my new rule is, I don’t worry unless/until they confirm that there’s something to worry about. Until then, it’s just acting with “an abundance of caution”.
 
lifeisbeautiful said:
I don’t have a response, but I want to wish you a Happy Birthday!!! 🍰:dancing:
Prayers for your peace of mind and that it is just them being cautious about something that turns out to be nothing to worry about.

It is sweet that your son brought up your birthday. ❤️

Pray, Hope and Don’t Worry! St. Padre Pio
Click to expand...
Thank you! My birthday ended up better than it started.

I’m trying not to worry.:o But it’s the third time in 5 years that I need to repeat.
 
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