A bit long but a lesson here for the ladies
 

I want to pass along a story that has been on going in my life for about 5 years now.
I used to work with a young girl who very well could have been my daughter (ok, granted I would have had to have her at a very young age.)
We hit it off pretty well and even went on a company vacation to San Fransisco together.
When she was about 28, she discovered a lump in her breast. She had it checked out and mammogram was not very good for her due to her dense breast (younger women have denser breast).
Doc told her not to be too concerned because she was so young. Eventually she went back due to the lump getting bigger and they did a biopsy. That test came out negative. Again....no need to worry she is so young.
Long story short she met a guy on a cruise and decided to go be with him in another state. A couple years go by and she gets another opinion about this "obvious" lump in her chest. Now....this doc doesn't like the looks of things. So she decides to go back home and proceed again.
This time they discover its cancer.
So they do a mastectomy on this very young women removing lots of lymph nodes and follow with chemo and radiation. Some time and lots of depression go by.
Last fall she gets up the courage to let doctors poke and prod at her again and gets reconstructive surgery. OH SHE IS FINALLY GETTING HER LIFE BACK! She felt normal again!

This past April they found the cancer has spread to her brain and spine.
They removed tumors from her brain and did radiation...but more tumors came back.
There is not much they can do now. I'd tell you her name but I respect her privacy and if someone googled her name this post would pop up!
So my young friend is going to die because her lump (at such a young age) went unchecked. They gave her a few months.
Please just pray for Karilann's "friend" to go peacefully and without pain.
I guess I wanted to tell my story so that you can all pay more attention.
If some day a similar conversation comes up with someone you know......don't let them brush these kinds of things off. Never let these things go unchecked. After the biopsy, my friend should have insisted they take the lump out and find out exactly what it was. They should have also followed up with ultrasound or SOMETHING every 6 months to monitor change. Don't let this happen to anyone you know.

What a sad story. I will pray for your friend. Sadly breast cancer is often brutal on the young ones. :(

I am sooo, so sorry for your friend. Unfortunately, I understand most of that all too well. For me, it's because I didn't want to get "squished". I let 5 years slide by.

I just finished my 3 round of chemo, have 5 more, then mastectomy, then radiation , then a daily pill for the next 10 years.

Again, my heart goes out to you.

Please ladies, go get squished.

I have tears in my eyes for your Friend and for you Karilann. How sad. Sending prayers for her. :hug:

So sorry for your friend. To bad doctors can't see the younger set as potential cancer patients also. I have a niece that from a very young age started rapid breast growth. Boy did the boys love to tease her in elementary school. She has not only a phobia about the pain of mammograms but of pap smears so she has refused both. They have chosen because of this never to have children.

Sadness all over the country today. Sorry you & your friend are having to live this. Reminder though, guys can get this type of cancer also. A lump anywhere need to be checked & followed up on.

Best wishes and soothing vibes going out to your friend, karilann. Women who don't want to deal with the momentary discomfort of getting squished are, IMO, delusional. Better to suffer one day a year than get the precious breast cut off forever.

That is rather harsh, IMO, especially for us to say with all the denial surrounding MS...diagnosis, prognosis, medication, genetic implications.

In my younger years I used and valued them but now my breasts don't mean anything to me in the big picture. If there is ever a need I will be quick to have them both taken completely off and while I would probably wear fillers in a bra I don't think I'd go for any reconstructive surgery.

*Jules: That is rather harsh, IMO, especially for us to say with all the denial surrounding MS...diagnosis, prognosis, medication, genetic implications.*


Jules, her comment may have been harsh, but its true. I myself didnt get my yearly paps, and wound up with precancer in uterus. I had to get a total hyst. All I have left is one ovary. This is when I was 38. I thank God I didnt wait any longer than I already did. It could have been much worse. I had a mamogram as a 16 yr old because I had a lump. The doctor laughed at me because I was so small, almost too small for the machine. It was that that caused me to not go back for another mamogram. Sometimes the harsh facts are the only way some will listen and take it seriously.

Calling someone delusional because they don't get a diagnostic test is harsh and it is also an inaccurate use of the term delusional. If the truth be told I guarantee every single one of us is guilty of not having every recommended diagnostic test within the recommended time frame for whatever reason and we have just been lucky in that we didn’t miss the window of opportunity to find a serious illness that could have been lurking under the surface.

In your particular case I would vehemently argue that you were most definitely not delusional...you were traumatized by an unethical, unprofessional physician who could have cost you your life.

Jules, could you be referring to my neice who refuses to have a mammogram instead of karilannes friend?

Nope, I wasn't referring to either of them. My last reply was answering KittyLady's post in response to my comment about how I do not think it is appropriate to call women who are afraid to have mammograms delusional. I quoted the post I was referring to in each of my replies. I wouldn't make any judgements because like I said I think everyone is guilty of missing check-ups, for whatever reason, even though we know it can be dangerous.

Make sense? :)

Guilty as charged. :o

Makes sense to me but I'm sure it wouldn't make sense to my niece. She has her head so deep in the sand she is almost to China by now. And her mother had sever breast cancer. She is in total denial. She is married to a blind man who would have to go back to his total controlling parents if anything should happen to her.

Me too... Never had one. I think you can get the same result from an MRI now, that's what I'm waiting for.:o:)

This is the method that I use as it differentiates between fibroids, scar tissue etc and active tumor growth, does not potentially damage the tissue through compression or radiation and detects the circualtory change at the start of tumor growth rather than detecting the mass of a potential tumor.

Thus detection of potential tumor activity can be made sooner than what is provided through mammography or breast examination.

When or if themal imaging detects an abnormality, then standard mammography can most usefully be applied to assess the location, size and potential nature of a tumor or growth.

Thermal imaging is available in most major centers these days, so probably the best way to find a location near you is to Google "Breast thermal imaging" and add your nearest major city after that.

With love, Erika

Breast Thermal Imaging
http://amazingdiscoveries.org/H-dece..._breast_cancer

Very sad but again I wouldn't label her as delusional just terrified and unable to cope with such a horrible possibility I guess. Sort of reminds me of the outrage when someone suggests those of us with MS should consider the genetic implications of our disease, huh?

Personally I'm not big on denial but then again I tend toward always perparing for the worst thing to happen. Probably somewhere in the middle would be a better place to live.

BTW great, thought provoking thread Karilann! You certainly brought this important topic to the front of our minds. :hug:

she developed this attitude well before her Mom got breast cancer. Right after she got her perlvic exam for birth control pills before she got married she was terrified to ever have one again. She said she would never get pregnant if it involved a pelvic exam. She has never had a mammagrom but with her very large breats she never wants that either. I guess we as women should not verbalize our discomfort so much aboiut them. We never know who is listening.

I TOTALLY get everyones point of view....trust me, I do.

But the lesson I am trying to pass along is:

When something is obviously wrong.....push for answers. One wrong doc could cost you your life.
And for all the YOUNG ladies in your life....they need to know it could happen to them too.
Much love and big hugs to all for you:hug:

P.S. Heard from my friend via email today. All she had to say was "this really sucks and I'm scared"

This is what I don't want to happen to you or anyone you know.

Peace

Breast cancer related to mammogram radiation exposure in women under 30?
http://www.komonews.com/news/health/...168918546.html

With love, Erika

Lets not forget:

The patient in question at age 28 had an obvious lump.
Routinely mammograms are not given to young women UNLESS there is a serious history of breast cancer in the family.
When I had a small change in my mammogram.....the docs went straight to an ultrasound.
Also: Thank God for digital mammography. It shows a much better picture of whats going on.

If you have something strange going on at any age...........get it checked out. If you still have doubts............get a second opinions or ask a lot more questions!

mother had a leaking painful breast with a lump. Took her to a gyno doc. He said it was nothing to worry about. His words were "Don't loose any sleep over this, you just let me worry about it"

ah, excuuusssse me doc - will you do the dying for us too? Thank God we got her a 2nd opinion from a breast specialist. She had surgery within days. (all is healthy now, but life got scary really quickly)

Just saying -- I don't think a gyno doctor was the place to go anyway.

The higher risk of getting breast cancer for these younger women who had mammograms had to do with what genes they were carrying for breast cancer. In this instance the genes are BRCA1 or BRCA2.

In hindsight your right, but we had to start somewhere. We didn't know where to go or what we were dealing with - just that something wasn't right. So we called her PCP. PCP said to have ob/gyn check it out, thinking he would then point us to the right place (via an educated referal).

as my grandmother used to say "There you go thinking again!"