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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Breast Cancer / October 2003Roll call
My name is Jeri, 72 years old this month, a widow, and live in central coast California...... I was diagnosed with bc in January of this year; not a good way to start the year out.....I found the tumor, the mammogram showed NOTHING, had an ultrasound and it showed two tumors, one 1 cm, the other 2.5 cm hidden under some scar tissue..... This is what is so upsetting to me......I was diligent in having my mammograms; never once did my doctor or the mammogram department ever question the scar tissue or tell me I have dense breasts so lets do further testing......No I was always told "you're just fine"......now after a mastectomy and chemo they tell me "you have dense breasts and tumors do not show on a mammogram"!!!!!! I truly feel I fell through the cracks; now I am told to continue with mammograms and add ultrasounds too; a little late!!!!!! I was put on Arimidex, but had such horrible joint pain I could not get across the room and that was taking 400 mg of Celebrex.....I am now on tamoxifen with not much better results......The quality of my life at my age is sorry to say the least, but the alternative is worse.... I hope my story is a help to anyone with dense breasts....insist on more testing; ultrasounds and even an MRI....... Jeri Hurst Hi, My name is Barbara Russell and I reside in Southern New Jersey. I was dx's 9/6/01 with invasive lobular breast cancer. I was 53 years old. My tumor was 1 cm. and er/pr+. My cancer did not show on a mamogram or ultrasound and because of that I practically had to demand a biopsy. At the present time I am waiting to go for a Pet Scan on Monday due to a suspiscious area on my thoracic spine picked up by a MRI. I sure hope it turns out to be nothing and that the Pet Scan doesn't show any other cancer. I received my cancer dx on a Thursday morning, the next day I put my mother into the hospital for throat cancer. My mother died 9/27 and I had my breast re-excision and node removal on 9/28. It was the roughest time of my life. Since then I have gotten a motorcycle license and bought a new Harley-Davidson 1450cc Low-Rider. It has, by far, been the best therapy ever. Since April of 2002 my husband and I have rode over 11,000 miles(he also got a new Harely). At times such as what I'm going through right now, there is nothing better than flying down the road at 70 mph, riding through the woods and smelling and feeling nature speed by. It really makes me feel alive! Wish luck on my pet scan and thanks for listening. Barbara Barbara wrote << Wish luck on my pet scan and thanks for listening.>> Welcome and hope all is well. Take care and enjoy--sounds like fun! > My name is Jeri, 72 years old this month, a widow, and live in central > coast California...... [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > tamoxifen with not much better results......The quality of my life at my > age is sorry to say the least, but the alternative is worse.... I was looking here and recurrence would be surgery and/or chemo/radiotherapy http://www.imaginis.com/breasthealth/staging.asp What is the alternative Jeri? Watchful waiting? Have you considered that (choice) since I think I read here that women diagnosed younger tend to have cancers more aggressive? J Jeri wrote << I was diagnosed with bc in January of this year; not a good way to start the year out.....I found the tumor, the mammogram showed NOTHING, had an ultrasound and it showed two tumors, one 1 cm, the other 2.5 cm hidden under some scar tissue..... This is what is so upsetting to me......I was diligent in having my mammograms; never once did my doctor or the mammogram department ever question the scar tissue or tell me I have dense breasts so lets do further testing......No I was always told "you're just fine"......now after a mastectomy and chemo they tell me "you have dense breasts and tumors do not show on a mammogram"!!!!!! I truly feel I fell through the cracks; now I am told to continue with mammograms and add ultrasounds too; a little late!!!!!!>> Yep, I hear ya. I did everything, 'right', too. I had yearly mammos and did regular self-checks. The system also failed me, However, even if 'it' doesn't work, if dr's stick follow it, irregardless of its known failrues, that is all they are required to do, legally that is... Kaye wrote << The system also failed me, However, even if 'it' doesn't work, if dr's stick follow it, irregardless of its known failrues, that is all they are required to do, legally that is... oops, I didn't think that I wrote 'that'--must have been that other self somewhere ;-) Seriously, part of what I had written got deleted (cause this one I had proof-read--but aol must have hiccoughed which it still does periodically) Anyway,I meant--even if 'it' (system) doesn't work all that the dr's are required to do is follow it until the 'standards' are changed. Some dr's are more perceptive and possibly more 'caring' than others and will carefully evaluate each of their patients individually and base recommendations for further testing upon that. I once asked my ob-gyn if he looked at the scans (after I had an ultrasound). He told me that he only read the reports. This was a dr. from our non-profit HMO. That is all he was required to do. However, I did see a private dr. for a second report--not only did he look at all the films but also did an in-office ultrasound. However, another dr. from HMO at a different facility, carefully reviewed all the films himself. Again, some dr's do only what is legally expected. Others stick their necks out more. By doing so, they may be opening themselves up for more liability than usual which may not be the case if they had done 'less' or the norm. I do think that dr's who went into their respective fields were initially quie idealistic. That is 'were' until they may have been stabbed in the back by 'that' patient who was looking to get 'rich' from the system and was looking for 'anything.' That is not to say some physicians haven't been negligent. Many have, but not the majority. Unfortunately because of those few--both patients and dr's--it has interfered with the overall quality and expected level of service today. Yes, I agree. I have had recent bone and PET scans and asked my Onc. if he looked at them and he said no..If I were a specialist I believe I would, as mistakes are made every day..I do think that the lobular kind of cancer (what I had, also) must be difficult to feel. Even after my breast swelled and the area was defined, not one of 3 different Drs. said they could feel it..and I had also had a clean mammo..My radiologist is the only one I think would have looked at them. He was very thorough, but he moved on to another facility soon after I started treatments...Pat from Apple Valley, CA >Kaye wrote << The system also failed me, However, even if 'it' >doesn't work, if dr's stick follow it, irregardless of its known failrues, that [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] >level of service today. > > My name is Jeri, 72 years old this month, a widow, and live in central > coast California...... I was diagnosed with bc in January of this year; [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > cracks; now I am told to continue with mammograms and add ultrasounds too; > a little late!!!!!! This post leaves a few things unanswered: What were you doing with dense breasts at 71 years of age? Thats normally a problem for 20- and 30 year olds.. Where you on HRT? If so you endangered yourself (or your gyn did) by increasing your chances of breast cancer as well as making it more difficult to detect BC by mammography. It won't help you but my advice to others with dense breasts and increased risk of BC is to get MRIs instead of mammograms done.  Signaturemadiba That was my reason for posting...to inform women with dense breasts to opt for ultrsounds and MRI's.....also question whether or not you have dense breasts....... I was taking Premarin at my doctor's insistence because he said it would prevent osteoporosis and heart problems at my age.....we now know that is false, and I might add they also found I have osteoporosis of the spine, and the results are not in about taking Premarin alone.... Jeri Hurst |
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