Did you ever look at your MRI?

Gitane
Gitane Member Posts: 1,885
edited June 2014 in ILC (Invasive Lobular Carcinoma)

I got a copy of my pre and post treatment MRIs on a disc to bring home.  It downloads onto my computer.  I don't know exactly what I'm looking at, but I was interested since the report said a "multitude of abnormalities" and that scared me big time.  

Today I found a book on line that helped me understand a lot about what my MRI shows.  What helped me the most is finding out that many of the "abnormalities" were actually due to the HRT I was on and the huge amount of fibrocystic changes in both breasts due to this.  The book said these light up on MRI just like the cancer and they can't always tell the tiny foci of this (up to 4 mm) from the tumor foci.  The book has lots of sample MRIs with explanations of what you are seeing and what is written in reports.  It has helped me so much in understanding the MRI.  How I wish someone would have taken the time to talk to me about this before. I know I have a multifocal cancer, but preop chemo wiped it out (YEA) and I have never known for sure about the size, even the pathologist wasn't sure.

Anyway, if you have multifocal or multicentric abnormalities lighting up your MRI, just know that not all those little lights are cancer.  This is especially true if you are premenopausal. 

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • marshakb
    marshakb Member Posts: 1,664
    edited May 2009
    I've never got copies but when I had my last PET/CT scan my rad onc pulled it up on his computer.  I was a bit taken back at the way it was all lit up but would rather know than imagine what things look like.  I had a head MRI a couple of weeks ago and would love to see that just to prove that I have a brain. LOL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • wallycat
    wallycat Member Posts: 3,227
    edited May 2009

    I saw my MRI when my radiologist was about to do the second MRI-biopsy.  I had 2 MRIs because the ultrasound and mammograms didn't find my cancer.

    I saw that MRI and told her she'd be calling me back.  She insisted no.  Not spiculated, small (9mm) and a tiny area. I told her it would be bigger and she'd be calling me.  Guess which of us was right Surprised  Turned out to be 1.8cm and cancer....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Gitane
    Gitane Member Posts: 1,885
    edited May 2009

    wallycat, That's an amazing story!  Sometimes we just know.  Sometimes we wish we didn't know.  What was it about the MRI that made you think such a small area would turn out to be bigger?  or was it just a gut feeling?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Gitane
    Gitane Member Posts: 1,885
    edited May 2009

    marsha,  Doesn't it feel that we start looking more at our insides than our outsides?  What's wrong with this picture?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Seabee
    Seabee Member Posts: 557
    edited May 2009

    I'd love to see my MRI, since my tumor appeared much larger on it, and was described by colorful terms such as "irregular mass,""clumped" and "spiculated." The bs did show me the mammograms, and pointed out some features of them, but I think reading mammograms must be a fine art.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • wallycat
    wallycat Member Posts: 3,227
    edited May 2009
    50 minutes ago Gitane wrote:

    wallycat, That's an amazing story! Sometimes we just know. Sometimes we wish we didn't know. What was it about the MRI that made you think such a small area would turn out to be bigger? or was it just a gut feeling?

    Yes, it was a gut feel.  The whole ordeal began with 3 vivid boob dreams that woke me out of a dead sleep.  Not cancer, just boobs...boobs in all shapes/sizes/sexual/of no interest....but I couldn't figure out why I was waking up, 3 nights in a row, bolting out of a dead sleep...then I did a BSE and this "feeling" came over me when I touched the cancer one.  Even my surgeon said there was NO WAY I should have felt or known anything.

    Yes, the whole thing is very "do-do-do-do" type emotions.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories