Second call to come in Scare

Hello all...

well it was time for my yearly mamogram so i went in ,and two days go by and i recieved a call,that they want another mamogram/utrasound,said that  there seem to be a change in the last three i have had.i no a couple yrs ago i had to go back for that but was ok.Just need to vent...feeling scare,as my mother and her mother and sister had there breast removed from cancer.

How old are you? As we age, breasts develop calcifications. Radiologists know how to differentiate the normal ones from the suspicious ones. If there is anything that could possibly be abnormal, they call you back in for a magnification mammogram. Some skip straight to a biopsy. I had calcifications about 10 years ago and was called back for magnified mammo. The radiologist was great and took me into his office to show me what they found and why it was not suspicious anymore. (Normal calcifications look like scattered bright white round tiny pearls. Suspicious areas have clusters of rice-like or branched bright white spots.) Two months ago it happened again but this time it wasn't good news. I had a stereotactic biopsy (painless by the way) and got the results a few days later. They found it early however. It was an aggressive grade so I had a double mastectomy 5 weeks ago.

KAC,

Unfortunately different radiologists see things differently. There are some standard markers that all interpret the same way but some other things are not so clear. Depending on the density of your breasts, for instance, it may be hard to see everything. I heard it compared today to, of all things, a bowl of jello with fruit in it. Sometimes dense breast tissue will prevent the radiologist from seeing all the "pieces of fruit" especially if one is positioned directly below another one. Depends on the angle that you are looking at. Some radiologists are more cautious than others.

Perhaps your previous mammogram had your breast positioned slightly differently so an area may not be able to be compared easily to the same area in the new mammogram. Or maybe the new radiologist interpreted the old mammogram differently. Don't jump to conclusions. They will just want to clear up the confusion by doing a second mammogram. They may simply focus on the area in question with a magnification image or two. Ask the radiologist to show you what looks off to him/her and how they came to that conclusion. At first when you look at the image it makes no sense, but the radiologist will explain it and it will become clearer to you. My mammogram technician is new and doesn't believe in much compression. Therefore the images weren't so clear compared to last year. I got called back.

If the question is not cleared up with this new mammogram, they might ask you to come back for a stereotactic breast biopsy where they will take a sample of the tissue and study it to make sure. (I had this...it took about an hour and was painless.) 

KAC, congratulations on your wonderful news! Glad you are going for mammograms more frequently since you have breast cancer in your family. Have you considered having the BRCA1 & BRCA2 test? It will tell you if you have the gene that increases your chances of developing breast cancer about 50%.

The BRCA 1 BRCA 2 test is expensive - about $3,000 - and there is no point having it unless you are prepared to do something if it turns out positive. If you have the gene, will you have a double mastectomy so you will never get breast cancer? Will you have your ovaries removed? If not, will you worry, knowing that everyone who has the gene DOES NOT get breast or ovarian cancer...but a lot do? It's a very personal decision.

A negative result doesn't mean you would never get breast or ovarian cancer. I don't have the BRAC gene. No breast cancer or any other kind of cancer is in my family. I got breast cancer anyway. For me, the right decision was removing both breasts so I never had to worry about it coming back or showing up in the other breast. Not everyone would make the same decision and their reasons would be right for them.

If you have the gene and decide against surgery, you need to be aware of symptoms that could be ovarian cancer warning signs, do self breast exams, and get mammograms. Not all breast cancers can be detected with mammogram and MRI. Mine was supposed to be confined to one breast, as per all the tests, but the pathology report after my double mastectomy showed the "non-cancer side" had cancer too. Even if that breast had been cancer-free, I would still be happy with my decision.

Until you are sure of what you will do, my advice is to wait until you are sure. 

 

You sound like you have a good head on your shoulders and aren't likely to make a decision without researching it through and through. Good for you. That's the way I am too. Knowledge is power. It reduces unfounded worry but can also to lead to the syndrome where you know "just enough to be dangerous." I make lists of questions based on my research and ask my doctors. They seem to appreciate that I've done my homework and never mind my questions.

Like you, I had no problem with the idea of a mastectomy. If they are not working right, get rid of them! Not all women are like that. Many have serious body image issues. Thankfully I'm not one of them. I didn't find the double mastectomy overly painful, just uncomfortable most of the time for the first week or so. It's more of an experience of strange unpleasant sensations rather than pain. 100mg of IV Tylenol every 6 hours worked fine and kept my pain level at 2-3, which is manageable. Some people take narcotics for weeks. We're all different.

My surgery was 6 weeks ago. Yes, I had reconstruction. It was done right after the mastectomies by a plastic surgeon. I chose saline implants rather than having a second area of pain from a stomach incision. (They can use that tissue for the new breast.) It's hard enough to maneuver around just after surgery. Can't imagine adding stomach pain to the mix. Other people are willing to go through it at the same time because it is in essence, a tummy tuck.  

99% of the time surgery goes fine. Some people develop complications. I had a second surgery on one side only 14 days later because the skin was too thin to survive on that side. The damaged tissue was removed along with the implant and a tissue expander was placed instead. Two weeks later I began getting weekly injections of saline (you don't feel it at all.) Hopefully the skin will expand over the next month or two so that the same size implant can be put back in sometime in Dec/Jan.

Thanks again for your response, Sandra. WOW... you have been through a lot. Many prayers and good wishes sent your way...... for continued good health!
I got a letter from Wellstar yesterday stating "Your recent diagnostic mammogram on the area of concern was determined to be "probably benign (probably not cancer) and the Radiologist has recommended a follow up mammogram in 6 months"
Wow.... that's comforting. Not.
Not sure if I should follow up with my Doc and ask WTH??

just curious.... How would you proceed?

Thanks for your opinion.... I'm going to check in to it with my Doc.
Again..... sending you my very best wishes ♥

Kaz62,
We've been in your shoes and certainly understand like no one else could. I've never heard it said that it was common to get a call back after your first mammogram. The mammo you are going to get next week will focus on a certain area and magnify it a bit so the radiologist can see it easier. The vast majority of people who get called back never have a biopsy. If you do have to have a biopsy, it's truly no big deal, not painful, just nerve wracking. Biopsies are negative the majority of the time.

You may also be asked to have an ultrasound or a MRI. They are just trying to make sure everything is ok. Those darned calcifications we women get as we grow older can be confused with early stage, non-invasive DCIS so look at your call back as a good thing. If it IS something, they will find it very early. Better than having a radiologist who is sloppy and doesn't bother following up. That happens.

I got called back at about your age because of calcifications. The magnification mammo proved it was nothing. They compare your next year's mammo to this one you just had so they don't call you back again unless they see something new. It was ten years before I got a call back again because the calcifications increased in a normal way. This year there were changes so I got called back.

The radiologist report will have a BI-RADS score, 1 thru 6, which is their recommendation for whether or not you should have a biopsy. The BI-RADS score doesn't mean you have cancer, and being sent for a biopsy doesn't mean they expect to find cancer. You might just have dense breasts that are hard to diagnose. Your doctor or the radiologist will explain all this to you.

Be worried, be concerned, but don't panic. It's too early. The vast majority of women who get a call back do not have cancer. The vast majority who are sent for a biopsy do not have cancer. Breathe. Keep in touch and let us know what happens.