Forum Discussion

arpie's avatar
arpie
Member
7 years ago

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

Who else has received their Mammogram Reminder after being diagnosed & treated?

Last week, I was a bit surprised to receive a reminder to have my 2 yearly mammogram as I thought there might be some sort of communication between the various health professionals & the organisation .... then again - why WOULD they know about my ILC BC?

So far, I've received a written letter, an email & an SMS to my mobile phone - so they are really keen to get me back!!

I thought a letter explaining why I wouldn't be going back would be in order.   This is what I wrote. I'll let you know if I get a reply!!

Hi guys, 


I’ve received my reminder for a mammogram, but I was diagnosed with invasive lobular cancer 6 months after my previous mammogram, which wasn’t picked up by it. 

There is no breast cancer (or any cancer) in my family, so this was (and still is) a real shock to me. I’ve had surgery (Jan 2018) and also radiation and am now on hormone tablets for the next 5 years+.

Apparently I have dense breast tissue, but I wasn’t advised of this by Breastscreen NSW and that it would be beneficial to have an ultrasound for earlier and better detection rates.  

Breast Screen Western Australia advises their clients with dense breast tissue to do this. 

It is time for Breastscreen NSW to do the same.

I will be having yearly mammograms and ultrasounds as a part of my ongoing breast cancer management, so would request that you remove my name from your reminder lists. 

I only hope that I am not one of the 30% who then randomly go on to develop metastasised/Stage 4 breast cancer, irrelevant of the ‘good outcome’ of my surgery, Rads and tabs. It really is a lottery. 

Much more research is needed in this area, to determine WHO will get Stage 4 and WHY? Tissue and bloods should be taken from all having surgery, to provide material for researchers to work with!

I would be interested if a radiographer could take a closer look at my last mammograms with Breastscreen NSW in 2017 ... to see if, in hindsight, anything could be detected on them, now that we know it was there all along? It was in my right breast. 



What do you reckon?  Not too rude??