Night Howls
Comments
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If anyone is interested in supporting.......
Here is the link to the Facebook campaign:
Can at 40. Do at 45.
Mission: BreastScreen to receive funding for better advertising of FREE from 40 Mammograms and active recruitment to national screening mammography from 45. The government is not investing in breast health awareness for younger women and we need an update on outdated policies. (Active recruitment age of 45 is backed up with a HEAP of research and many other countries eg NZ have made this change years ago.)
https://www.facebook.com/Can40Do45/
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Thanks @JJ70 I will share. I have been telling everyone about the availability of breast screening from 40 and the easily accessible Rose clinic at David Jones department store here in Melbourne. Already persuaded one forty-something friend to get a mammogram.
I saved my own life by going to screening after my GP had checked a self-discovered lump and said there was nothing to worry about.
People think GPs can find cancers by checking the breasts manually and actually it's very difficult to do so.0 -
@Vangirl Actually impossible to do with some cancers - especially lobular. I'd been having regular mammograms for years. Even the day of my diagnosis the mammogram and 3D mammogram didn't show anything. It took them 1.5 hours of ultrasounding me to find it - with great difficulty. I went in because of physical symptoms - inverted nipple and distended shape - so they knew it was there.1
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@Flaneuse the skin dimpling was the telltale sign that made me go in for the mammogram. The lump itself was also very palpable but several medical professionals have since told me that non-specialists can find it difficult to distinguish between a cancer and a benign lump.
I would never advise anyone with a breast symptom to leave their GP office without a referral.0 -
Lobular and no signs for me. Surgeon could feel something but of course, that was after 2 mammograms, ultrasound and core biopsy. Even then it was twice as big as he thought when it was cut out.0
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I'm hearing you ladies and still the mammogram is the best tool we've got to detect BC on a national scale. For some of us we get down on bended knee and praise the mammogram machine (and the radiologists who read the images) as they saved our lives.0
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@tigerbeth. Woo hoo! Love your story in Knox Leader. I have put it on Can at 40. Do at 45 FB page. If not OK with you let me know and I'll take it down.0
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@Sister Yes - they thought mine was 8-9 cm but it turned out to be 12 cm. @3370 - I certainly agree about the need for broader national mammogram screening. Since my lobular, the younger women in my family - daughter and nieces - are all having ultrasounds as well. Fortunately they can all afford to do so. It's a worry that many women at risk of having lobular tumours missed by mammogram (as mine was) can't afford to pay to have ultrasounds.1
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Mine, ductal, was measured at 0.8cm by the mammogram but upon removal was found to be 1.6cm. The mammograms and ultrasounds are fantastic but they are not perfect. Something which the general public don't understand. I certainly didn't until that pathology result, and the later one after my re-excision which found 4cm of DCIS. Occult cells. Not to mention the pathology on the mastectomy tissuexthat found more previously unseen DCIS. Was never told my breasts were dense and that this might prevent cancers being detected... *mutters rudely under breath*0
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That is fucked isn't it @kmakm - the lack of information about breast density, to those individual women who require it. WA has a 2% better survival rate than the rest of the country. I am wondering if that is the key difference - that BreastScreen WA tell women and their GP's about their breast density on mammography. This would surely send some women delving further via ultrasound to find BC at an earlier stage, than had they of left it. Especially as dense breasts is a risk factor.0
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Initial measurements for Bastard Fucker (my tumor's name - aka ductal carcinoma) was 2cm. This was upgraded to 3cm after lumpectomy. Mammo also did not pick up the two smaller tumors of 0.5 and 0.6 cm. My BS just happened across those on the surgery and 'popped' them out, thinking they might be swollen glands. I love my BS.1
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My BS also removed during mastectomy what he thought might have been a skin cancer just above my left breast. Turned out not to be anything worriesome at all, but how many other people had looked me over and not noticed/said anything?0
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It's worth remembering that not all tumours, picked up on mammogram or otherwise, will go on to become life threatening. Was listening to an interesting podcast about it last night. US based experts interviewed but still relevant to an international audience.
http://www.maximumfun.org/adam-ruins-everything/adam-ruins-everything-episode-34-dr-joann-elmore-and-dr-janie-lee-why-mammogra
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So earlier to bed and less napping today just means I’m awake earlier too. Had the difficult I think I need to be off work until mid October discussion with my boss today - just kept saying this is my long term health that I’m useless for the 10 days after treatment and only so so for the next 10 before I do treatment again. Big step forward1
