I was part of the Breascreen SA debacle,mammograms since I was 40 my choice,2 first degree relatives had early breast cancer, one was only 29 the second 57, breastscreen aware of this, was recalled twice but fortunately only cysts, had my mammpgram in 2013, sent a letter all good, then a letter later to say that my mammogram was included in the ones where sa was changing over to digital from analogue,in February 2013, I received more notification to say that my mamogram had been looked at again by supposedly 3 independent radiologist, and that I was given the all clear{I have all of my paperwork},in June of 2015, I was told I had stage 4 advanced breast cancer with tumours in my liver and spine, I was told by the surgeon that he could not help me, did I know an oncologist? and the statistics were 7 years, very nice, thank you.
I too had dense breasts, there is of course a lot more to this story, suffice to say you cannot beat the system,or the government or doctors, I know I tried, 28th of June it will be 5 years since those words were spoken to me,
I thank BCNA, for all they have done are are doing, why in this country can one state get it right and the rest not.
Had I known I would have had a ultra sound 3 d mammogram mri, whatever it took to find out this life shattering diagnosis,
There also needs to be better communication with GPs, not once did ever a GP ask me if I had had a mammogram or even thought about it, it was my desicion to take myself off to the breastscreen sa at age 40 and demand a mammogram because of family history!!!This has to be changed, there are so many stories of women, similar to mine and all of the above, oh and I forgot to add I had early ovarian cancer at age 29,surgery,radiation,hysterectomy the works, and yet it still did not ring any alarm bells for anyone,I now tell any woman who will listen to me, if something doesnt feel right with your body, it probably isnt and if your doctor wont listen then find one who does, I did and it saved my life at 29!!!
wendy55
