How was your BC found? By doctor or you?

Odie16-thanx. Have to wait 2 more months for some reason. I'll ask my onco why tomorrow.

I found mine four months after a clear mammogram. I checked my breasts somewhat often due to fibrocystic breasts. They've always been lumpy and I wanted to be familiar with what was normal for me just in case. Good thing I did. Given the aggressive nature of my triple neg. tumor, who knows what it would have looked like by the time my next regular mammo would have rolled around.

Susan-I never had a mamo  before even though I was 44. I had very dense lumpy breasts and noticed a thickening on the side while doing a SBE. I went to my GYN who sent me for a a mammo and ultrasound. The mamo did not show anything! The ultra sound just showed an area of concern and I was told it was probably an infection and that I should return in 6 weeks. Because I knew my body so well and knew that little lump was not there before I didn't wait and made an appointment with a breast specialist who did another ultrasound and then ordered a biopsy. Even while doing the biopsy the Dr said it was probably nothing and all these ultrasounds do is scare women who have false alarms. Wrong,wrong wrong! It was stage one IDC. The rest of the story is history.

The first time I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, it was the doctor who found it.  I was actually in the process of getting a 2nd opinion from a surgical oncologist for some probable ovarian tumors (I ended up having a bi-lateral oopherectomy and thankfully all the tumors were benign -- my sister had ovarian cancer several years earlier).  As a part of the general exam given at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC, even for ovarian tumors, the doctor did a breast exam and found a lump quite far up on my chest wall.  I was shocked when he said I needed to have an immediate mammogram and u/s and might need a biopsy that day as well.  Talk about medical whiplash!  I went through all the tests and that afternoon I had a needle biopsy which they said they thought was BC.  It was triple negative, 1.7 cm., was palpable and I'd had my annual mammogram just 7 months before and there was no lump to be felt.  I figure I didn't find it myself because who the heck feels around for tumors an inch below one's collar bone?  I had a new recurrence of TNBC in the same breast this year in Feb. 2011 and this time I was the one to find it.  It wasn't a lump but I'd been having pain in that same  breast for several weeks and wanted it checked out.  But I waited the 4 weeks to see my breast surgeon at our already scheduled annual appointment.  I couldn't feel a lump or anything but it felt "different."  My surgeon agreed that she felt a little thickening in the area and subsequent mammogram, u/s and biopsy proved it to be my 2nd diagnosis of TNBC.  It was weird -- the tumor was actually entwined with the scar tissue from my earlier lumpectomy.  But they assure me that it's an entirely new BC since supposedly the same triple negative cancer can't recur after 6 years.

I found it myself at 35 and let it throw a party until I was 37.  Ah, DeNile...

I found mine myself.  I lost a lot of weight years ago and about seven years ago had my breasts lifte and implants.  I had regular mamos each year since age 40.  Over the last few years my left breast implant started getting harder due to encapsulation.  I would sometimes get a weird ache.  I had been pondering this left breast for over a year, debating when to get them replaced.  During my "pondering" times I would compare the difference between the right and left implant, etc. It was during one of those times that I felt the small hard lump in that left breast.  The day I went for the mamo and eventual biopsy the lump didn't show on the mamo, but did on the ultrasound.  Thanks to the dr at Mills Women's Breast Center that agreed to sqeeze me in for the biopsy that day. 

Now I'm sitting here a week out from my left side mastectomy with lat reconstruction.  Not the way I would have planned to get that implant replaced.  I'm thankful that I found it.  I now tell my friends to check themselves.   

My cancer was found by my 1st.mammogram.

Found by myself and confirmed by GP after mamo, US and FNB.

I found mine, reg memo failed , dr visit failed. ((((((((((((

Mine was found on a yearly mammogram. It was a call back, then an ultrasound that didn't show anything, so I had more tests and a stereotactic biopsy and there it was.  Thank heavens for those yearly mammos.  This one was so small and into the breast it could not have been felt until it had really grown, and then maybe more aggressive.  BS was able to remove it with clear margins and nodes.

Mine was found by my doctor in my annual breast exam...less than an hour after a 'normal' mammogram.  I had lost more than 50 lbs in the 6 months prior to my appointment and have dense, fiberous breasts. I don't think that I would have found it myself. I had been having annual mammograms since age 40 (now 51). After my doctor found the lump I had a digital diagnostic mammogram (negative) and ultrasound (suspicious), negative biopsy and suspicious MRI. No diagnosis until lumpectomy was performed.

because of having  34B dense breasts had mammos every other year since 35.  Had one on November 22, 2009...all clear and nothing on it........as was my history. March 10, 2010, less than 4 months later, I felt the BC. It was aggressive and invasive, the size of a quarter.

No family history, good health, and being a nurse, I did do self-exams, but not every month BUT I know since having just had the mammo in Nov I would of checked in Dec or Jan and then SMACK, now I have one of the most agressive forms of BC!

Good I didn't rely on yearly or every other year mammo's!

SO THANKS FOR MAMMOGRAMS, BUT IT WAS MY SELF EXAM THAT SAVED ME...NOT FROM 5 SURGERIES, INCLUDING CHEMO AND RADS, BUT ALSO THANKS TO THE SPEED IN WHICH MY GP GOT ME INTO THE BREAST SURGEON AND THE BS OPERATED 4 DAYS LATER, ALL HELPED THE BC FROM GETTING TO MY LYMPH NODES!

I had clean mammogram in 2008 following problems with cysts which needed to be drained. Nearly a year later I found a lump in the same breast but on the opposite side to the cysts. It turned out to be a 2.4 X 2.0cm tumour TN IDC in the right breast. There was no sign of this cancer on the mammo a year earlier and I have since read that TN cancers are often termed 'interval cancers' as they present themselves between mammograms. I was diagnosed on 8th September 2009. I had neo adjuvant chemo and the tumour was removed on 4th Jan 2010 following little / no response to chemo. I had my first annual mammogram in Jan 2011 and all seemed well. By summer 2011 I found a painful 'ridge' in my left breast this time (opposite breast to original cancer). It DID NOT show up on mammogram, ultrasound or PET! It turned out to be 4CM DCIS grade 3. So ladies, be vigilent! Cancer CAN be painful and it does now always show up on scans. Know your own body check yourself on a regular basis. I caught this early - the pathology was the same as my previous invasive TN tumour (except it had not become invasive on this occasion). By the time this new cancer did show up on mammogram it might have been too late. I would have been due for my second screening mammogram this January - and I suspect I would have been sent away and told all was well. Scary!

Additional info: I have dense breasts and have a BRCA 1 mutation of 'unknown significance'. I have a very strong history of breast , ovarian and pancreatic cancer on mums side. I was 45 when I found my first TN IDC tumour.