Don't beat yourself up about not having the mammo earlier - there's no guarantee that an earlier one would have picked anything up. I hadn't had a mammo for a long time before the fateful one, although I always checked myself. My cancer (ILC) being recognised as a possible problem from that mammo was described by the surgeon as an amazing pick as it was so difficult to see. It was already 4.5cm with no clear margins, and had spread to 3 nodes - not that that was known until after the first surgery. It was also estimated that it had only been around for 12 months, maybe up to 2 years. Quite possibly, if I had gone for that screening mammo a few months earlier, it would not have shown up. A few months later, and it would have spread much further. So, you may have done the "right" thing and walked away thinking you were fine when all the time it was just undetected.
