Mammogram - Dense Breast Tissue

LW0919

I just realized, I posted this in the wrong forum so am re-posting it here where it's more applicable to my previous diagnosis.  I went a week ago this past Friday for my 6 month follow up mammogram. After waiting for over an hour for the results, at 5:00 I was told that everything looked good and they would see me next time. I was fully expecting to get an ultrasound because that has been the norm so assumed that everything must have been very clear with no question this time. What a relief, I didn't have to think about breast cancer again for another 6 months.

However, yesterday I received a letter from the breast clinic that began with "your mammogram showed findings that we believe to be benign." Seriously? "We believe" is not a definitive clinical diagnosis! Way to cover your ass breast clinic. If they weren't certain then I should have received an ultrasound for clarification. Why didn't I, was it because it was 5:00 on a Friday and everyone wanted to go home? I am so furious. After all that I went through last year, they are going to expect me to be ok with, "we believe". I will be calling my oncologist on Monday demanding an ultrasound or MRI.

The letter also went on to say that my breast tissue was determined to be heterogenous. I've done quite a bit of research in the last 24 hours and have found that nearly half of all breast cancers are missed by mammography when the breast tissue is dense. Luckily, as of late July of last year, NC is now one of only 12 states that is now required by law to disclose these findings to women. An MRI or ultrasound provides much more definitive findings than the "we believe" that I was given. So that means there are 40 remaining states in which this doesn't have to be disclosed and when women are given the thumbs up from their mammogram, they're not given the whole story. It's very misleading and can be dangerous, not to mention deadly. I came across this great website for women with dense breast tissue, it's called areyoudense.org. So very informative. I recommend everyone go check it out and learn more. We have to be our own advocates and ask questions and push for what we need rather than just trusting that the health care system is always looking out for our best interest.

So, as you can see...one year later, I'm still thinking about breast cancer and probably always will. Life and my perspective on it has been changed forever! I value it so much more now.