Regular breast screening - our best tool in the fight against breast cancer
January 1, 2008 · Print This Article
Thanks to celebrities such as Olivia Newton John, Anastacia, Kylie Minogue and Belinda Emmett, there is a significant increase in breast cancer awareness among women of all ages. But how many women over the age of 40 years old do you know who put off their regular mammogram for weeks or even months?
I’m yet to experience the sensation of having my breasts squeezed between two heavy metal plates so I suppose I can’t truly identify with the women out there who continually put it off due to the unpleasant nature of the process. However, I do have it on good authority that if I wanted to know what having one was like, I could go out into the garage and lie on the floor while someone put an ice block on top of my boobs and left it there for a little while. I think I will pass on that somehow.
Regardless of how unpleasant a mammogram is, I would encourage you all to go out and have one if you are over the age of 40 years old. If you are of high risk of developing breast cancer, having one at an earlier age is not a bad idea at all – it could save your life. Certain characteristics can increase your risk of developing breast cancer and the National Breast Cancer Centre has developed an online risk assessment tool to help you determine your individual breast cancer risk.
Some of you might think that you don’t need a breast screen – after all, you can feel or see obvious signs that you have breast cancer right? Yes there are breast changes that could indicate a problem, such as:
- A lump, lumpiness or thickening
- Changes to the nipple
- Discharge from the nipple
- Changes in the skin of the breast
- Persistent unusual pain which is not associated with menstruation in one breast only
- Change in the size or shape of the breast
In any of these cases, further investigation is warranted and it is best to see your doctor without delay. If you follow the link above, you will find that the NBCC has provided extensive information on the signs and symptoms associated with malignant changes of the breast.
But there is also a type of breast cancer which cannot be detected by any outward signs. It is called Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) and can only be detected by medical imaging, such as a mammogram. Women with DCIS are often completely unaware that they have it. Figures from the National Breast Cancer Centre indicate that around 1200 women each year are diagnosed with DCIS from regular breast screening. DCIS is different from other types of malignant growths in the breast in that it is restricted to the milk ducts and does not spread outside the breast tissue. If it is detected early and treatment provided, the prognosis is good and survival numbers after diagnosis with DCIS are high. The key point to note here is that early detection is vital for a positive outcome. If you would like to find out more about DCIS, please see this publication from the National Breast Cancer Council for more information.
So please, if you’ve been putting off that free mammogram for far too long – make an appointment today and just get it done. To make an appointment, simply call BreastScreen Australia on 13 20 50.
I guess this is something that we all know Kay. But we need to have it brought home to us in articles like this to reinforce the message. And yes, I’m one of the guilty ones too.
Kay, I’m a breast cancer survivor, it would have been 3 years in February. However, three weeks ago, I found out I have cancer in the only ovary left during a hysterectomy over 30 years ago. I’m 61. I went in for a pain in my right side. My GP ordered an ultra scan for the right side, where I have a stone the size of a peanut in my gallbladder.. and God knows why he also ordered a pelvic and abdominal ultra sound which showed the problem in my ovary. I hadn’t even thought about it for years. So please, please, ask women who have had a hysterectomy and where an ovary was left, to ask for a periodic ultra sound of that ovary. My surgery is scheduled for January 18th. I’m a wreck… I work full time days and blog on my site nights…. This will impact my life considerably. Hoping its less then stage one…praying everyday. The unknown makes me wonder, what next..?
Thanks for your post..
Dorothy from grammology
remember to call your gram
http://grammology.com
Hi. I was diagnosed with advanced stage breast cancer four years ago at the end of this month. I was 36-years-old then. I, myself, had found my lump through monthly self breast exams. I have fibrocystic breasts and a lump was hard to distinguish initially, except that “the lump” I was feeling after several months did not go away after each of my monthly periods like the fibrocysts usually did. I took my concern to a reputable GYN/OB doctor at a major hospital in my area. He did not seem to think anything was of concern, and no further tests were ordered, after he performed his breast exam on me. So, having trust in him, I just believed him and didn’t really concern myself with it so much. I continued to do my monthly self exams and did notice that it still did not go away, and maybe, just maybe, it was getting just a little larger and more noticeable to me after 8 to 10 more months down the road. So, I made an appointment again with him and again the same story. So, since I was then more concerned with “the lump” I made an appointment with my primary physician’s office for a physical to see what she would say. Of course, that appointment was about two months down the road after my last GYN appointment. Before I could make it in to my scheduled appointment, I began having sharp and continuous pain below my ribs. So, I ended getting into the doctor office for a more urgent appointment. After he could feel that my liver was greatly enlarged by palpation and by an xray, he sent me for a CT scan of my abdomen the next day, on a Friday. On the following Tuesday, I found out that I had metastatic liver tumors, and some pelvic lymph node involvement, and spleen tumors. So, since he could feel the breast lump very clearly, he immediately send me for a mammogram and breast ultrasound, a breast tissue biopsy, a bone scan, full body CT scans, and a liver biopsy within three days of the same week. I was very exhausted by the end of the week after all of the tests and the mental anxiety that went along with it all. After all the test results were compiled and I saw a breast oncologist, it was determined that I had estrogen receptor positive, Her2(-) breast cancer with mets to my upper spine, pelvis, and femurs, innumerable liver tumors, chest and abdomen lymph node involvement, spleen tumors, and a few lung spots. I immediately began hormone therapy with an aromatase inihibitor called Femara along with cessation of my ovaries so that I would be post-menopause. A month later I ended up just having my ovaries removed to keep estrogen levels at their lowest in my body. The Femara worked for 20 months, and then I had to begin chemotherapy. I took Taxol and Avastin for 18 months when my body just couldn’t handle the toxicity of it all anymore. My kidneys were shutting down, and my blood pressure was sky high all the time, even with two blood pressure medications. And, not to mention the fatigue which caused me to need at least 15 hours of sleep everyday in chunks of 8-10 hours at a time. So, I then tried to see if a hormonal therapy drug would help again, which letting my body detox for a few months. So, I took Tamoxifen during that time, but without success for the cancer. Many of my liver tumors began to grow again, and I had developed new ones, too. I also seemed to have some increase in my bone mets to some degree. I also had to undergo radiation therapy treatment to my upper spine due to increasing pain in that area, and the possibility of just having a couple of my upper thoracic vertebrae collapse. The radiation made a big difference in my pain level. However, I have been starting to feel some increase in the pain again. I am now also taking Abraxane, since the Tamoxifen did not work, and have taken three cycles (treatment every three weeks). Today I had more scans to see how I am responding to the Abraxane therapy so we can decide to keep moving on with it, add something else to it, or change the treatment regimen again altogether.
I do believe that my outcome/prognosis may have been better, if my GYN doctor had decided that further testing of the lump I felt was important. At least I would have had a 15 month jump on the breast cancer. And, I am sure that the metastases would either have not been there, or been much more minimal with a better treatment outcome. So, I cannot stress enough to young women under the age of forty that doing your own self breast exams, if you are not getting mammograms yet, is very important. I trusted my doctor, but I think I learned that even the most trusted doctors can be wrong when only you know your body the best. It is important to speak up and not feel like their word is “the” word, and if something is definitely different, then demand that it get checked out. I didn’t know what breast cancer felt like, so just hearing my GYN say that my breast “feels like any other 35-year-old breast,” was a relief. I didn’t have discharge from my nipple, no skin changes, and my breasts looked pretty symmetrical still. A lump that doesn’t go away can mean breast cancer even without the other symptoms.
So, Please do your SBE’s (self breast exams) on a monthly and get to know your body so you know when there are changes.
I hope to see my three children grow up.
Take Care - Denise