For Those with Dense Breast Tissue

we have to send letters to the politicians...I am disgusted with some of the journalist who have had breast cancer...and there are a lot of them and they have not stood up for anything.

first... dense breast and mammograms

second.. lymphedma treatment and sleeves that the insurance co may not cover... It is diplorable.....

and also that PTs need to certified in LANA before they touch us.. Doctors need to more educated about the side effects of lymp node removal etc... quality of life!!!!!

It is too much of a reaction to what happens afterwards instead of having game plan before surgery... meeting with a PT .. understanding the lymphatic system etc...

I think the ACS  should do more!!! than hand out folders to be organized!!!!! I will not give them a dime for anything .. I think this organization needs to be investigated!!!! Sorry but that is what I am thinking!!!

Soccermom were you able to get reimbursed from the insurance company?  just wondering

At what point should you decide you need more than a mammogram? I was called back for a repeat digital mammo in May. I requested a copy of the report and it says the views demostrate somewhat nodular moderately dense fibroglandular tissue. No persistent mass, architectural distortion or grouping of pathologis micrcalcifications.  BI-Rads  right 3   left NA    follow up in 6 months

I have always had my yearly mammograms and always got the everything is fine call, until this year, now I'm reading about breast density and I'm can't stop thinking, do I need more.... Please tell me smart ladies what would you do? Wait the 6 months or request the ultrasound or mri???
Thanks, Cindy

Springtime is right....my BS said my insurance company would never pay, I said, well let's at least TRY...and they did.  But I had to really fight her to request the authorization.

Thank you sweet ladies! Peace of mind is priceless!

My mom just died in June of ovarian cancer after a 11 year battle... and I have lost one of my children and a sister to non-hogkin lymphoma, sometimes I feel like I'm waiting my turn...

When I called the doctor's office about my report I ask the nurse what catagory the density is, she said it's not catagorized...The report says "moderate", from what I've been reading that's in the 50 - 74 percent ? I did receive a call from my GYN after she received the report and she said at this time we shouldn't be overly concerned.... I've never done self breast exams on myself regular but now I'm doing them every day, this is on my mind constantly! The report also said somewhat nodular, I'm feeling these nodules and something that feels like a ridge, am I over-reacting? What to do, what to do???  
Thanks for listening, chat with you later and I'm wishing the best for all of you!! Cindy

The last three mammos I have had in the past six years have all said I have Moderately dense breasts and a large amount of fibroglandular tissue, the increased density of the parenchyma reduces the sensitivity of the mammo ( I am a D cup). None of the cysts ever showed up on the Mammo but having Ultra sounds combined with the mammo have shown multiple cysts in the past six years and now there is also multiple complex cysts showing up and these do not show up on Mammo at all. I have a MRI coming up in a month and after reading the posts here I am glad I am getting one. Thank you for sharing this information.

Hi Springtime

My doctor only suggested it because it was written down on my report from US that I go have one done. I have never been able to talk to him about any of the lumps over the past six years, you are aloud two questions per visit then your told to make another appointment ( He is on antidepressant's and his mood swings swing from one end to the other) and it wasn't just with me it was with all his patients. He has now left town and i am left with no doctor. 

So far all I know is I have very dense breasts and each report I receive back is written different

Report said: I have numerous lesions in both breasts which appear to be a combination of simple cysts and Multiple complex cysts. they are much more numerous on the left side than on the right side and they have increased in amount in the left breast since  the previous study. In addition I have multiple cysts in both axillae. They want an MRI done to exclude the possibility of a tumor process. 

Each report I receive from them shows moderate parenchyma bilaterally and it sais it is very difficult to fully evaluate the breast parenchyma when they contain so many numerous cysts.

I havent been diagnosed with anything yet but I think that is were the MRI will show anything. Out of all Mammos I have had no cysts ever show up on there, it also shows large amount of fibroglandular tissue. The mammo in 2006 did say within the axillary region of the right breast there is a 8mm nodule with a fatty hilum likely representing intramammary lymph node.

Again on the ultra sound from 2006 within the upper quadrant of the left breast are 2 well defined hyperechoic lesions with the larger lesion measuring 2.4 cm in length, it may represent  large lymph nodes.(suggest correlation with more recent mammograms)

and now the new one done in June 2011 shows cysts, multiple complex cysts and again it talks about the lumps in my armpit. 

Each test i had on the mammo gram states it has a hard time to read my breasts, I kept pushing my doctor about it and he just walks out of the room. I cant fire him because there is such a shortage of doctors up here so your stuck with the one you have and if you have a doctor here count yourself lucky. I had a surgeon remove one cyst back in 2004 came back ok, since then my cysts have multiplied and many women get cysts I know but now the complex cysts are moving in lol. Not once has any of the techs or my doctor ever told me that the Mammo doesnt work well on dense breast tissue   I was able to get my hands on my reports of which they keep telling us were not aloud to have them. 

Its been very frustrating to say the least and it feels like i am a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.  Now I will be going for an MRI with dye on Aug 17 and I am scared they might find something worse that the mammo didnt pick up. 

Now any of the cysts I have the normal cysts and the complex cysts havent been aspirated and no one has mentioned that I should. Now if I do ask for that  do I ask them to take samples of each cyst? or only the complex cysts ?

Side note: I am 45, I have had a hysterectomy 2 years ago do to loosing to much blood with my periods and iron deficiency (I also had two cervix's and a wall down my Uterus very rare I know so I was pretty much a guini pig for that lol ) so a few miscarriages and finally had one healthy son and I was 30 years old when I had him. Not sure if any of this is even pertinent but I did have cysts in my uterus before the hysterectomy. The stuff I had to go through just for that has made me not have to much faith in doctors   long story  

Sorry for the long story and I wish i could post all the reports on the mammo and US so someone could see the time line up until now. I have read a lot (not good I know) but for me knowledge is better than the unknown.

So in the end it all boils down to Im scared that after all this time the MRI that i am finally getting will tell me something bad (gut feeling). I hope I am wrong. 

P.S  Living in Canada we dont have to pay for the MRI or any other tests so I dont see why they didnt suggest going for one before this ? 

ohhh I could tell you a few horror stories from around where I live ..... none  of them are good combination of small town, over worked doctors and not enough to go around and to much of a rush to care anymore I have seen to many people in this town  get pushed aside or ignored and ended up passing away from there illnesses because by the time they did find what it was it was to late   I dont want to be one of them.

I am schedules for a MRI on Aug.17 and its the one with the dye and the surgeon i contacted that I had before said I could ask for the results to be sent to him since my doctor is no longer here so that is a bonus.  I thought the appointment was far enough away since its already been a few weeks waiting but the secretary at my surgeons office told me they got me in pretty fast because when she went in for a MRI for her breasts she had to wait three months OMG, I told her for me that could be a good thing or a bad thing lol long wait could mean there not worried and getting in fast could mean scary lol  we seem to have much longer waiting times here in Ontario so I am happy I was able to get in when I did. 

I will be gone for a week next week so It will take my mind off it for a little bit at least. I will cross my fingers and cross my legs if I knew it might help hahaha. 

I just want to say thank you for taking the time to reply to my messages Spring.

Wishing you a great day

Towny, maybe this will make you feel better about journalists. Personally, I think these women have the right to their privacy the same as you and I. But here is one who made a public announcement and used her position to encourage women to be proactive.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/cutline/nbc-andrea-mitchell-breast-cancer-191413850.html

of course, after the fact of having stage 3 cancer....my breasts are so dense.  10 years ago' all i got was mammo; now i have a breast mri every 6 months. i am sure if i was having mri's 10 years ago my cancer would have been picked up earlier.  sigh. 

Kelly have you been to a breast surgeon.  If not you may want to make an appt and see what they say.  If you have good insurance covered I'd try to get an MRI as well.

Anne have to talked about getting an US

My breast are very dense.  My tumor did not show on mammo or was it palpable.  It showed on MRi and then again on US.  Now my follow ups are to be yearly mammo's and yearly MRI's alternating every 6 months.  Just went to see my MO Friday and told him I just cannot afford these yearly MRI"s even with insurance my out of pocket is 2K and then I have other medical expensess and then what if something happens to DH.  So I told him I wanted another mammo and US of both breast instead of MRI and he said he was OK with it if I was OK with it.  I still think MRI is best but I will feel OK about the US.