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momand2kids
momand2kids Member Posts: 1,508
edited June 2014 in Stage I Breast Cancer

Had my 6 month checkup--- onc and I have debated the merits of MRI's since the beginning-- my argument is that my bc was not picked up on a mammogram, hers is that MRI's are so sensitive that we could be chasing down things that are nothing, but she has agreed over the past 2 years to let me have them--- and this one was completely clear!!!!!

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  • J9W
    J9W Member Posts: 395
    edited May 2011

    GREAT news. 

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  • Aza
    Aza Member Posts: 76
    edited May 2011

    How did you manage to get an MRI instead of a CT scan?  I have been recommended to have a CT scan and I don't want one!  I have already had quite enough radiation.

    AZA

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  • hnl90
    hnl90 Member Posts: 5
    edited May 2011

    I've been told that my future is every 6 months it will be MRI, then Mammogram, then MRI, then Mammogram, and so on and so on.

    Amazing how one Doctor will swear by one method and another not.  Just how do we then make any decisions for ourselves? 

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  • Aza
    Aza Member Posts: 76
    edited May 2011

    hn190, unless there is some reasonable fear of cancer spreading to the bones, I can't imagine why a CT scan would be called for.  MRI's are better at detecting abnormalities in soft tissue, aren't they?  I find it alarming that some doctors seem so quick to order CT scans.  From what I hear, they can cause the condition they are meant to detect.

    AZA

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  • peggy_j
    peggy_j Member Posts: 1,700
    edited May 2011

    Congrats momand2kids on your great news. Hurrah!  I'm with you. I would definitely want the MRI.

    Aza, I've never heard of a CT scan for the breasts. MRI, yes. FWIW, my insurance took 5 biz days to approve the MRI after my biopsy showed BC. Maybe MRIs aren't used as often due to the cost? I wonder if the recommended treatment varies based on how much the docs are getting reimbursed? (i.e. PPO recommends it, but HMO may not? Just speculating; this isn't based on any fact).

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  • peggy_j
    peggy_j Member Posts: 1,700
    edited May 2011

    Good luck joycek on your mandible scan. I know the dental xray places offer a digital scan called a cone-beam scan that has less radiation and better resolution.  (no dye or injections). Not sure if that's an option. 

    BTW, does anyone know the resolution of the breast MRI? i.e. how small of a tumor it can catch? My MO didn't know offhand and said maybe 3mm. Not as small as I thought. Guess I should do my own research on this. (sigh)

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  • peggy_j
    peggy_j Member Posts: 1,700
    edited May 2011
    joycek, good luck with your CT tomorrow. Yeah, I didn't have any scans either. When reviewing my final path report, my surgeon said there were no micro-mets and so I tried to pin her down on whether there was any chance (at all) that it had spread. She said, of course there are no guarantees but this was as close to a guarantee as we get. It looks like you and I have similar Dx (my tumor was hard to catch on the mammo--seen on the top, not the side. It came in at 5 mm) I'd be as stressed as you are. I find the tests and waiting to be so stressful.  I'l be thinking of you tomorrow and hoping for good news.
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  • mrsnjband
    mrsnjband Member Posts: 1,409
    edited May 2011

    Congrats, awesome news!!! NJ

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  • momand2kids
    momand2kids Member Posts: 1,508
    edited May 2011

    Aza,

    I had an MRI during the diagnostic phase--my surgeon required it to make sure there was nothing in the other breast--and I have one annually as part of my follow up- although my onc and I revisit it each year--- I will be 3 years out in November--I am willing to maybe go to once every other year--but my 2.5cm lump was not picked up on a mammogram so that technology is not the only one I want to use.... the risk of MRI is simply that it picks up alot of stuff---- mostly benign, but you have to chase it down anyway...... I am ok with that---

     good luck to all who  are getting scans.....

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  • susan_CNY
    susan_CNY Member Posts: 276
    edited May 2011

    I have been dealing with painful mammos on my lumpectomy breast with questionable results ever since my surgery 8 years ago , resulting in even more painful failed biopsies leading to excisional (benign), last years once again questionable followed by MRI, I told onco I refuse to ever have a mammo in that breast again, she said fine and thats the plan now, yearly MRI, the insurance okd it no problem

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  • momand2kids
    momand2kids Member Posts: 1,508
    edited May 2011

    let me add that this was followed up by a successful colonoscopy!!!!!

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  • peggy_j
    peggy_j Member Posts: 1,700
    edited May 2011

    joycek, thanks for the update and glad to hear all the docs suspect it's a cyst. Yeah, I'm sure your nerves are shot with all this. Oy. Have a great weekend and hope you use your oral surgery as an excuse to pamper yourself. (rice pudding and/or choc. milk shakes?)

     momand2kids, congrats on your good news. Maybe she should rename this the good-news thread! 

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