What's the trick to early diagnoses?

I am so sorry You are going through all of this. I can only tell You from my experience. I felt a lump and went to my GP. He was on holidays and resident was there instead. She told me it was most likely nothing but would send me for an U/S. A week later they have cancellation and asked me to come. Dr. who did the U/S booked a biopsy for next day but sent me for mammogram that same day. Mammogram came back clear but she went with her suspicion based on U/S. It turned out I had two cancers close together. After mastectomy they found third one as well.

In my case U/S detected what mammogram did not. My breasts were dense.

Good luck.

BCMom-  I am so very sorry you are going through this. I've followed your other post and I think of you and pray for you everyday.

I was diagnosed early, but only because of my own poking and prodding of my body.  I had a baseline mammogram at 37, all ok.  Had another one at 38, also ok.  4 months later I feel a lump high on my chest, near my collarbone.  My thought is that it was there for the last mammogram, but because it was so high, It may not have made it into the compression plates.  I guess theorhetticly (sp?) I could have continued getting mammograms, the tumor would have grown and or spread, and it wouldn't have been "caught early".  But because I was aware of my body, the tumor was found by ME and not the mammo. 

So my only advise for your daughter is to really know what feels normal in your own body.

Sending hugs to you and your family,

Sherrill

After being on BCO for a couple of years, I've come to the unscientific conclusion that the trick is two-fold:  (1) Take every little change in your breasts very seriously; and (2) Go to a breast surgeon/specialist from the get-go.  Do not waste time with a primary doctor or OB/GYN, and unless it's a highly reputable institution, never take a wait & see or we'll check it again in 6 mos. approach. 

It seems to me that most women either have some symptom or concern, or some irregularity is found at an annual mammo, and where the early dx opportunity is lost is when the primary doc, OB/GYN, or rad onc isn't experienced enough to recognize it for what it is -- very early stage bc.  Unfortunately, all doctors are not equally good, and sadly, too many women never know that until they finally get a bc dx after wasting time with the wrong docs.  In my case, I had a lump @ 12:00 that my primary doc couldn't feel, and that a mammo tech probably didn't image the first year I felt it because it was kind of high.  I had even pointed it out to the mammo tech, who advised me only that an exam had not been been requested with the mammo and there was no doctor available to do one.  And because the lump seemed to get smaller if I didn't drink caffeine, it seemed logical to me that it was nothing to worry about.  If I had known to go to a breast surgeon @ a comprehensive cancer center like the one I finally ended up at (and which is one reason I probably sound like a broken record telling women to go to an NCI-designated cancer center), that area would have been properly examined and imaged 2 years earlier, and I would not have ended up with multi-centric bc and a positive node with extracapsular extension, or had to have a mast or do chemo. 

BcMom, I've also been following your other thread and want you to know that I have been very touched by it and pray every day for your miracle.    (((Hugs)))   Deanna

BcMom, another thing your daughter can do is look into the high risk programs some comprehensive cancer centers now offer.  They will do a thorough risk evaluation, and, if she is determined to be more at risk than the general population, they will monitor her more closely, to catch anything suspiscious ASAP.  These programs also make women aware of the scientifically proven lifestyle modifications (exercise, diet, supplements, etc.) that can help reduce risk.  Being pro-active and knowing you're in the best of hands before any specific concern arises should also go a long way to give her peace of mind.    Deanna

Mine was not seen by the radiologist. The software on the digital mammogram machine flagged it. I never knew there was a difference in mamo machines until then. My best to you and your daughter. Susie 

Mom of 3; this may sound a bit callous but you need to expend all your energy on fighting this cancer beast and not waste any of it by wondering how you could have caught it earlier.

A survivor told me that once in a support group after I admitted that I was ashamed (as a nurse) that I let a suspicious "thickening" go for 3 months.    I'll never ever understand why I played doctor and put off an exam for 3 months.    I was going thru a stressful time in life and I honestly believed that it was impossible that one more thing could go wrong.

So I took that survivor's advice and dropped all the self-blaming.  It was zapping all my energy and I needed that energy to fight the cancer.

As for your daughter being high risk. it's good to have mammos and clinical breast exams spread out over the calendar year.   This way she'd be more likely to have something picked up early. some women do all their testing around their birthday and then wait a full yr to be evaluated again.    I had a thorough clinical breast exam done by gyn in Jan of 2003. Nothing detected. Followed by neg mammo in July of that year. Then I went for annual PE and bc was detected.    I should have pushed for further evaluation at the time of the mammo; but a clear mammo to me meant that I was imagining a problem.   

Best wishes to you and your daughter.  I just had preventative bilateral mastectomies this week b/c I just cannot trust that my body will "sound an alarm" if bc rears its ugly head again.