New advice: Wait until 50 for mammograms--Government panel says benefits of early screening don’t outweigh risks
I actually had my one and only mammogramme at 38, when a doctor ordered it due to breast pain, so there's a baseline. (I was told that I had perfect breasts, something you don't hear every day. Apparently they come out so clear that if I had a tiny tumour they'd be able to see it immediately, whereas women whose breasts are dense and fibrous have issues in having theirs read.) I've meant to have another since I turned forty, but put it off, and now I'm 42 and they're saying not to bother, and they also say breast self-exam is pretty much worthless in terms of evidence. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what to believe. It does actually bring the US in line with international guidelines. I think this is where evidence based medicine can help. I think I'll do some of my own research and go from there.
Born, like other comic book characters, out of an otherwise trivial but life-changing animal bite, the Rabid Librarian seeks out strange, useless facts, raves about real and perceived injustices, and seeks to meet her greatest challenge of all--her own life.
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Showing posts with label Breast Self-Exam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Breast Self-Exam. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Puts my troubles in perspective
You won't be able to read this link freely past the 4th or 5th of October because the Herald-Leader, our local paper, charges for such archived articles, but this story caught my eye. So, I will 'sum up'. Remember the doctor who back in 1999 was stationed at Antarctica and discovered she had breast cancer? I had wondered what happened to her. She'd performed a biopsy on herself with just ice to dull the pain and they made a drop of materials for the slides so she could be sure of the diagnosis and and chemotherapy drugs to treat her. After her return she had a lumpectomy (the cancer had miraculously not spread to the lymph nodes, apparently) and then later a mastectomy due to an infection. She wrote a book (Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole) about her experiences and that was the last I'd heard of her .
Jerri Nielsen was in the area recently giving a talk to raise awareness about breast cancer and she's had further difficulties since then. In 2006 she found out she had bone and liver cancer. A tumour coming out of her skull pushed into her eye socket. She was in Turkey and she went blind. She is now fighting the aggressive form of cancer with chemotherapy, but still tours and practices medicine.
She's an amazing woman. Remember October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Be sure to do regular self-examinations, get clincial exams as recommended, and have a mammogramme done especially if you're over forty.
Jerri Nielsen was in the area recently giving a talk to raise awareness about breast cancer and she's had further difficulties since then. In 2006 she found out she had bone and liver cancer. A tumour coming out of her skull pushed into her eye socket. She was in Turkey and she went blind. She is now fighting the aggressive form of cancer with chemotherapy, but still tours and practices medicine.
She's an amazing woman. Remember October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Be sure to do regular self-examinations, get clincial exams as recommended, and have a mammogramme done especially if you're over forty.
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