How was your BC found? By doctor or you?

My yearly Mam. - which I did every year to the date.

 I had small dense breast and always had cysts....every year I was called back in for an ultrasound.   I always knew somehow that one day my luck would run out, but it did grow fast in one year.

Mine was found with MRI.  I had previous B9 issues and had yearly mammo's faithfully every year for 14 years.  At 48 got called back for calcifications.  Biopsy recommended, had a difficult time getting the biopsy so they recommended MRI to rule out cancer.  The califications were not cancer but I had a 1.6cm tumor that was hiding in my dense breast tissue that never showed on any of my mammo's

I found three palpable lumps two months after a clean mammogram. I had NEVER done BSE, but because I had recently lost weight, I was standing at a full length mirror admiring my flat tummy, but rather disdainfully poking at the effect the weight loss had on my breasts! I have extremely dense breasts. Apparently those lumps had been in hiding. Thank goodness something inspired me to check. I don't know where I would be today if I hadn't. They also found multiple lesions during my MX which hadn't been seen previous. That's why I always tell premenopausal women to do breast self exam. It virtually saved my life.  Tammy

I found my lump myself, while gertting dressed for a party..I had a mammogram that came back clear about 6 weeks earlier, and have had them yearly for the last 8 years.  I was 42 and my lump was already 3cm at that point.

I found a small lump one month after I had a "clear" mammo.  My pathology determined it was slow growing, so had most likely been there through several years of mammos, but my dense breasts are good at hiding stuff that should not be there.

Routine mammo for me which I had been doing for a few years.  No palable lump felt by me or breast surgeon.

Obviously, I am a strong advocate of mammo's.  There isn't a doubt in my mind that had I skipped my mammo that year ('08), I'd be looking at a far more serious scenario- particularly after learning I was HER2+.  So I wasn't able to avoid the chemo I so desparately feared but thanks to that mammo, there was nothing in my nodes for the chemo to go after!

I found a lump in my armpits 3 year before it was confirmed as a positive SN. It took a MRI to find the associated tumor. I had US & mamography & the tumor never showed up. I was told the armpit lump was an isolated lymph node & was "watched". Good thing I have a non-aggressive cancer.

Mammogram, although I had noticed changes in the skin (grooving) prior. The grooving was there on a prior mammogram 4 yrs before, but the radiologist said there wasn't anything there, so I didn't worry about it. But now that's where my lumpectomy scar is.

I got a baseline mammogram at 36 as soon as I stopped breastfeeding, as my mom had been diagnosed with BC two years prior (while I was pregnant). The mammogram showed calcifications and they asked me to do a follow-up in 6 months (I waited 9). The next one led to a biospy. I had no suspicion they would find anything.

I am the poster child for early detection via mammogram.

Found via mammo which saw suspicious calcifications.  Even after my radiologist told me exactly where the spot was, I could not feel a thing whatsoever.  Nothing showed on US either.

Mine was a non invasive situation but without mammo finding it so early it could have easily turned on me.  I am very thankful for the technology.

I found mine - always did regular self-exams.

My yearly mammo in '09.  First time since I was 40 and began my yearly mammo that I was ever called back in (I was 62!)  No cancer whatsoever in either side of my family.  Mine was 1.2 cms IDC (Triple Neg) but was 5 cms. below the nipple at 11:00 and couldn't be felt at all.  Sure glad the mammo picked it up and thet investigated further.  At least we caught it at Stage I with no nodes or vascular (not that puts me "safe" by any means), but had I not gone then, who knows what it would have been, or where else it may have gone if I had waited longer.  I am very grateful for my mammo that year.

My yearly mammo in 2010.  I was really bad about doing self exams.  My tumor was not palpable and would not have been found that way.  I was 55 at the time of mammo and had skipped my annaul mammo in 2009 - I was given the form to call and schedule it myself and just kept putting it off.  I am a huge believer in mammos and have vowed to never skip it again.

In reading the replies to this post, it looks like as many are found by self exams as are by mammography.  In my case, I had my gyno check up at the end of August '11.  Then my mammogram was about 2 weeks later, and that was where the radiologist saw it.  Neither my gyno nor the radiologist (even after seeing the location on the mammogram) felt the lump.  Also the surgeon could not feel it when I met with him.  Mine is 11 milimters.  I used to do breast self-exams, but I was always feeling my ribs, or nothing and asking my doctor about what I was feeling.  He was always saying it was nothing, so I stopped doing the self-exams years ago.  I don't guess that I would have felt it even if I had done the exam myself, though, if the doctors and surgeon can't feel it.  In a way I am glad because I would be so angry at myself if I thought that I could have prevented this in some way.