So ... I received a Breastscreen NSW reminder for my 2 yearly mammogram!

Good to hear that news @arpie.
I received an invitation for my first breastscreen mammogram some weeks after my surgery (which was after completing 6 cycles of chemo). Coincidentally,  I was attending an education session at Breastscreen later that day,  so I advised one of the staff there, and how much it had upset me. My question to them was to the effect of why they didn't do some sort of cross referencing with the cancer registry. Surely that should be possible in this era.

Like many others here, I have dense breasts. I don't plan on going to Breastscreen even when I do become elligible again. At least doing it privately, I 'm able to get the results the next day

Great news@arpie , hope your med onc agrees with you & you can have a better quality of life.

Hugs xx

@arpie That's all really interesting and a good outcome for you. I like the way you're thinking about the whole picture. And it sounds as though your surgeon is also thinking about the whole You and is being thorough. xox

Excellent news @arpie! K xox

All good.  

Dr French was really happy at how good my boob was 12 months after surgery & rads - most impressed with my Rad Onc!!    Apparently the radiation really can change the entire 'feel' of the breast tissue - He was amazed there was no external rads scarring or internal thickening of tissue also from the rads.  He thought BC Boob felt quite natural and (even tho he did the surgery) was also impressed wth my 'lack of' scarring around the nipple where it had been 'relocated' after surgery.  

He is fully understanding my anguish over my hand/thumb pain in particular - and for the 1% reduction in recurrence - agrees that quality of life is SO important.  He said about 30% of women he sees has the 'worse side effects' - whilst some get none.   

He said that in 'my case' for a 1% reduction in recurrence - he would have to see 100 women for just the 1 to be unlucky enough to have a recurrence - a total lottery - so is it worth it to be miserable for 5 years?  If I had a higher grade tumour & it had been found in my nodes - it would be a totally different story & he would try to convince me to stay on it ....  SO .. I will put it  past my Medical Onc to maybe try Tamoxifen when I see her next - so that I know I have tried a real mix of drugs (and it is the longest running hormone drug out there!)   If I then give that another 6 months .... we'll see how i go from there.  So I will possibly be trading incredibly sore hands/thumbs for more hot flushes (roughly) .... tho who knows - I may just tolerate it better than the AIs, so worth a try.

He will also be contacting Breastscreen to request my last film, taken 6 months before I was diagnosed - and check to see if he could detect the tumour in it.  Cos they obviously didn't know that I had been diagnosed - and if they aren't advised of their 'rejects'  (like me, where my GP found the tumour) - they only have their own '100% detection rate' showing - even tho in the covering letter with your results, they say that it is not 100% sure that you 'don't have BC' when they say it was clear ....

Many thanks for the best wishes ..... I reckon I really had worked thru most of my anxiety when I went down the month earlier for the wrong date!!  DUH!   So it sort of worked in my favour today - i was quite calm! 

take care ladies xx

@arpie The WBC doctor told me that 20% of bcs are IVC. 12 of the 15 biopsies were in my left breast - needle biopsies to try to pick up bits of the "web". I got used to the nail-gun sound every time she clicked the needle. My left breast was like a pin-cushion. The WBC people were wonderful: very thorough. They do their best to make sure that when you walk out at the end of the day (8.5 hours for me) you have your results. The histology report on the biopsies comes the next day, but the doctor and radiologist have already made their judgment on what the issue is and talked you through.

Wow - you were lucky yours was found, @Sister due to that one diligent operator.   I can 'sort of' see why they don't put the reports in with the films (I can remember back when they used to!)  Some would go into shock then & there or worse.

That's a real shocker, @Flaneuse ... 15 Biopsies??  Bloody Hell!   it is a no brainer that you should be told if the test they are using doesn't work on you .... DUH!

Maybe we should do a poll on how many BCs (ILC in particular) have picked up by BS vs not? 

@Sister Yes, you were very fortunate. I'd had a regular Breastscreen mammogram (no evidence of cancer) nine months before I noticed my nipple receding and then a slight distortion in my left breast. GP got me an appt the next day at Wesley Breast Clinic - mammo & tomosynthesis showed nothing. On ultrasound it was barely perceptible. 15 biopsies. Report suggested 8-9 cm IVC. It ended up being 12 cm. So my daughter, nieces and anyone else I can influence have ultrasounds as well as mammos now. Mine had probably been there for years. It was certainly there before the Breastscreen mammo because in the second half of that year, I'd often had a sixth sense that something was not right in my body. Not unwell; but just not right. Then when I got the clear Breastscreen result, I thought, oh well it wasn't that, anyway. Wrong.

I think the letter is great @arpie.  The density issue is ridiculous but then so is sealing films and reports for doctor's eyes only.  We're women (and men) - not children.  We have a right to know what is going on in our bodies.

Unfortunately, Breastscreen is staffed by the good, the bad and the bumbling.  I will be forever grateful that the woman who scanned me 14 months ago, saw a very, very slight indicator that something wasn't right.  As @zoffiel says, lobular is very hard to detect.  Another 12 months would probably have been a completely different story for me.

That’s a shocker @Hopes_and_Dreams!  On both counts!  just as well they asked for a 2nd opinion!

 Glad you didn’t pay the bill @tigerbeth