Don't Put Off Having a Mammogram

Maybe I have more than a passing interest in the subject of waiting till one is over 50 to have a mammogram. My daughter is presently undergoing treatment for breast cancer. It does not run in our family. She's the first. And she's 48 years old.

She has a friend from her church who is only in her 20's and is also trying to recover from surgery and chemo after a diagnosis of breast cancer. She had twin boys less than a year old at the time of her diagnosis.

As for me, I've had a number of cysts that I found myself. They were checked more closely by having a mammogram. While I usually find them myself, it's a comfort knowing that a mammogram might find one I miss, and it might be cancer rather than an ordinary cyst.

To me the idea of suggesting that women stop doing breast self-exams is sheer lunacy. While mammograms detect many cancers, many more are found by self-exams. Both are a necessary part of protecting one's self from breast cancer.

Earlier in the year, my daughter called me to say she had found a lump in her breast after experiencing pain in the area. I told her it was probably just one of the big old cysts like I'm always having, but she should get it checked out as soon as possible.

The next day she got in to see her gyn, who sent her for a mammogram. The radiologist said he saw two lumps which "looked cancerous" to him.

A biopsy followed. Positive for cancer.

By the time she was scheduled for surgery, she told me that one of the lumps was gone. As it turned out, the lump that led to her having a mammogram went away on its own. But without it, she wouldn't have had a mammogram for another six months, and the cancerous lump might not have been discovered in time for early intervention. She feels the cyst was given to her for the specific purpose of discovering the cancer in time.

I lean towards starting having mammograms not later, but earlier, than previously recommended. The lives saved might be one or more of my precious granddaughters.

While I'm not a medical person, I would advise all women to do breast self-exams often and start having mammograms as soon as your insurance will pay for them, or earlier, if necessary. While mammograms may occasionally detect something that leads to an unnecessary biopsy, there is currently no other way of knowing for sure whether or not what it detects is malignant.

As for having unnecessary concerns because of undetermined findings of a mammogram, it is still worth it. For one thing, if you think you may have cancer, have a biopsy, and it turns out to be benign, it gives you a greater appreciation for life and health.

I've had three biopsies, when the doctors feared I had inflammatory breast cancer, which is usually a death sentence. I was blessed all three times.

I will not change my routine of mammograms and breast self-exams regardless of what someone recommends. Maybe I'm wrong, but I can't help seeing the "new recommendations" as someone's attempt to save money at the expense of women's health.