Trying to Move Beyond, but can't...

Laura,

When I went to pick up my mammogram films to take with me to the surgeons office and saw the report - I knew something had to be missed on my previous mammogram. Yes,it had been 18 months between them due to some other surgery, however, I don't believe a 3.5cm BC was not there 18 months earlier!   Also, a few years prior they had me come back for additional views because of some calcifications - well, those calcifications were still there but now it was invasive.  A different radiologist read the last mammogram.  

I agree with you on the breast exams we get - it is as if they are afraid to touch.  I've often thought you would have to have over a 3 cm. cancer for them to feel that anything was there.  

There are lots of us that have frustrations.  Right now my breast MRI they said was ok but there is a cyst there and he wants to keep an eye on the cyst.  When you read the post above - you understand why. 

You know, we are the ones that put people and/or doctors on pedestals. They are only human too; they can have bad days - sick themselves, overworked and tired and problems at home that just like everyone else. I

can do my best to understand some errors but the part about the exams just drives me nuts!!!!

Brenda 

This topic has given rise to so many thoughts.

I remember reading about my 3 cm tumor and thinking what the hell?  That's like a golf ball, where did that come from!  But is it like a golf ball? Or is it like a post-it note, or like a rubber band?  Are tumors round, or can they be flat or stringy.  When they give the size, surely they are giving the maximum dimension.  What shape are the cursed things?

I used to work with doctors.  One I was very fond of, and he told me this story.  He had a patient who asked him about a mole she had.  He told her not to worry about it.  It turned out to be skin cancer.   She went back to him and told him that she didn't blame him, thought that most doctors would have said the same, BUT she didn't want him to be her doctor anymore.  He told her he understood.  This happened fairly early in his career, he was one of the most patient centered doctors I have ever known.

I'm not a big fan of lawsuits, and I have worked in quality assurance and risk management in hospitals.   A carefully written letter gets far more attention than most would believe.  I think it might actually be more effective than a face to face meeting.  Make it "more in sorrow than anger".  The thing about a letter is that someone can get past the initial defensiveness and go back to the truth.

However if you do want to sue DO NOT write a letter or do anything else without your lawyer's advice. 

Hey Laura, one of my Lobular sisters

I too had been getting my yearly mammos religiously  with ultrasounds(I insisted on US since I had extremely dense tissue) and was going to  my annual ob-gyn exams on January and mammo/us on July, thinking that by spreading them out I was on top of it all.

Plus I did to self exams maybe not every month but certainly every 3 months.

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But as you know the lobular does not manifest itself as a lump until it is usually 5 cm,it does not appear in the mammo either. It presents more like a thickening of the tissue(which I had felt 3-4 months before my dx.. but did not think about it much, since I was looking for a lump and it was just a thickening)

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Then Mammo showed 2.1 cm, mri showed 1.8 cm.. and the surgery pathology showed 2.5 cm.. so this Lobular is really sneakier than the Ductal.

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The diagnostic tools are not effective for this kind unfortunately.. and the lobular can not be found with a self exam either until it presents itself as a lump.

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Dont know what to say girlfriend.. since I am on the same boat too.

Hey Laura,

I think this is how it goes(read it somewhere).. lobular grows as a sheet and at one point(who knows what controls that ) the tissue around it surrounds it making it palpable as a mass...and that is exactly how mine went. I felt like my breast density increased 3-4 months before they found it( hey !!! it got perky I was happy, little did I know) , then suddenly it was a 2.5 cm mass/lump.which was NOT there before but of course the sheets were cooking in there for at least 5+ years I was told.

( I too was an A- cup, could not even find a decent push up bra for my pancake boobs.. and the 2.5 was able to hide in it too)

Sorry girlfriend.. I know with our luck we should have played the lotto ! At least we can say that there was nothing else we could have done to avoid it ( not like we skipped exams/mammos for 10 years and found out about it.. now what would hurt me personally a lot more)