How many found their own BC as opposed to a Mammogram finding?

MAJW
MAJW Member Posts: 2,510 Member
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I am very curious as to how many found their own BC as opposed to it being discovered during a mammogram.....Seems the more I come in contact with those who have BC the more I am finding they have found it themselves......sometimes shortly after a mammogram...I, personally, found mine less than 3 months after my yearly and an ultrasound.....A friend of my daughter's found hers less than 4 months afterwards......another friend found her's 3 WEEKS after a routine mammogram......
Just courious!
My best to all of you
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Comments

  • Kim59
    Kim59 Member Posts: 43
    mammo normal
    My mammo and ultrasound in Jan 09 were normal. The only reason I have ultrasounds every 6 months is because I have very cystic breasts that require draining. My surgeon was following up on a cyst that was drained in July 09. By Sept 09 I had a bx that was positive. If it weren't for those cysts I would just now be having my yearly mammo. I could feel a mass but it was the cyst. The tumor was behind the cyst!
  • MyTurnNow
    MyTurnNow Member Posts: 2,686 Member
    I found mine after coming
    I found mine after coming home from exercising. I was sitting back on the couch reading the paper and felt an itch. I scratched it and felt the lump. I immediately, well the next day, contacted my OB/GYN and scheduled an appointment with him and asked for a referral for a mammogram. It does seem like a lot of the women find the cancer (lump) themselves either through SBE or otherwise. It will be interesting to read the comments that are made here.
  • cindycflynn
    cindycflynn Member Posts: 1,132 Member
    Mine was found on a mammo
    My breast tissue is very dense and lumpy, so when I do self-exams it's pretty difficult for me to tell what might by "normal" for me.

    In my case, I had just had my physical, and my doctor had also done a breast exam as part of it and didn't notice anything. She just ordered my annual mammo, which I had done a week or so later, and they found 2 lumps, one benign and one IDC.
  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    I found mine myself. I'd had
    I found mine myself. I'd had a mammogram a year before that found nothing. The onc said it had been growing about a year so it could have started then. The biggest tumor was 6 cm and it was very aggressive. But during staging it still didn't show on the mammogram or ultrasound.
  • Victoria63
    Victoria63 Member Posts: 8
    I found my own
    I had a chest cold and was applying vapor rub to my chest and felt a ping pong size lump to the side of my sternum and it was in the same place I had had biopsied 9 months prior when I originally found it while daily moisturizing. It was much smaller then and benign with fibrosystic changes and in just 9 months turned malignant.
  • crselby
    crselby Member Posts: 441
    Thanks for this topic
    I've been curious too.
    I could almost ditto cindycflynn. Had annual physical by PCP, including pap and breast exam. My breasts, too, are lumpy and dense from fibrocystic changes so even I can't tell what's normal. She ordered my annual mammogram, and, VOILA, there were the microcalcifications that indicated the DCIS, that was later confirmed via bx. 13mm x 9mm, grade 3 If it had gotten big enough to feel, it probably would have been invasive, too. As it was, it was just DCIS. Thank you mammo. I was 57.

    My second cousin was 48, felt her lump 8 months after a clear mammogram. It was IDC.
    ~~Connie~~
  • Jeanne D
    Jeanne D Member Posts: 1,867
    Marcia527 said:

    I found mine myself. I'd had
    I found mine myself. I'd had a mammogram a year before that found nothing. The onc said it had been growing about a year so it could have started then. The biggest tumor was 6 cm and it was very aggressive. But during staging it still didn't show on the mammogram or ultrasound.

    I found mine too and left it in me for over 2 years!
    My story is on my Expressions Page with more detail, but, I was only 34 and they didn't give mammograms for someone that young then. I had it for over 2 years because my gynecologist convinced me that I was way too young for bc and that I didn't want a scar on my breast. Finally, I insisted on a mammogram and the bc showed up as a "hot" spot. I was lucky, very lucky. It was very small and I had a lumpectomy with removal of all lymph nodes and rads. That is why I think it would be great for all women to have a baseline mammogram at age 30. The second time I had bc, which was 2009, it showed up as microcalcifications on my annual mammogram. Mammograms do literally save lives!

    Love, Jeanne ♥
  • BlownAway60
    BlownAway60 Member Posts: 851
    I Found Mine
    I found mine while doing a breast self exam, 1.5 cm IDC.

    Donna
  • teresa41
    teresa41 Member Posts: 471

    I found my own
    I had a chest cold and was applying vapor rub to my chest and felt a ping pong size lump to the side of my sternum and it was in the same place I had had biopsied 9 months prior when I originally found it while daily moisturizing. It was much smaller then and benign with fibrosystic changes and in just 9 months turned malignant.

    i found mine
    i found mine doing a self breast exam in my left breast2.2cm idc . in december i found one in my right so far one in my right is benign.
  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member

    I Found Mine
    I found mine while doing a breast self exam, 1.5 cm IDC.

    Donna

    First mammogram
    I turned 40 this past year, and my OB/GYN sent me for my first, baseline mammogram, which is where my 4 tiny tumors introduced themselves.

    They were never palpable -- and, after my diagnosis, just about every medical professional in the San Fernando Valley tried to find them during breast exams!

    So, even though I'm young, have never had babies, and still have fairly dense breast tissue, I'm one of the lucky ones for whom mammography is very successful.

    Traci
  • Sunrae
    Sunrae Member Posts: 808

    I Found Mine
    I found mine while doing a breast self exam, 1.5 cm IDC.

    Donna

    Back in Aug, I noticed my
    Back in Aug, I noticed my nipple had inverted. After a couple of weeks, i decided to go for a mammogram and suspicious masses showed up, followup ultrasound, then 2 biopsies showed I had 3 tumors and lymph node involvement, dxed invasive inductral carcinoma. My onc said I had probably had bc for over a year but it didn't show up on my annual mammo the year before, hidden. I knew nipple inversion was a sign and also I had a lot of microcalcifications on several previous mammograms. Don't know why my dr. didn't order an ultrasound last year. My bc would have been found a year earlier and my tumors would have been smaller. One good thing, my bc is slow growing so we still caught it fairly early.
  • mimivac
    mimivac Member Posts: 2,143
    Found it myself
    I found it myself b/c I was too young for a mammogram. Mine was a very large lump that seemed to grow overnight. When I noticed it, I got scared and went to see my GP right away. He said not to worry, but told me to get a diagnostic mammogram. The mammogram came back abnormal. I went for a biopsy two days later and was diagnosed with bc two days after that. Even though I have extremely dense, lumpy breasts the mammogram clearly showed my cancerous lump, so I still trust them.

    Mimi
  • Sher43009
    Sher43009 Member Posts: 602 Member
    TraciInLA said:

    First mammogram
    I turned 40 this past year, and my OB/GYN sent me for my first, baseline mammogram, which is where my 4 tiny tumors introduced themselves.

    They were never palpable -- and, after my diagnosis, just about every medical professional in the San Fernando Valley tried to find them during breast exams!

    So, even though I'm young, have never had babies, and still have fairly dense breast tissue, I'm one of the lucky ones for whom mammography is very successful.

    Traci

    My gyn found mine. When she
    My gyn found mine. When she showed me where it was, I still couldn't feel it. It felt like the rest of my breast. That was last April, by the time I had a lumpectomy in June it had grown to over 2cm. The mammogram couldn't tell whether it was a cyst or solid so the surgeon did a biopsy then lumpectomy that confirmed IDC, triple+, stage 1C, grade 3 tumor.
  • tasha_111
    tasha_111 Member Posts: 2,072
    mimivac said:

    Found it myself
    I found it myself b/c I was too young for a mammogram. Mine was a very large lump that seemed to grow overnight. When I noticed it, I got scared and went to see my GP right away. He said not to worry, but told me to get a diagnostic mammogram. The mammogram came back abnormal. I went for a biopsy two days later and was diagnosed with bc two days after that. Even though I have extremely dense, lumpy breasts the mammogram clearly showed my cancerous lump, so I still trust them.

    Mimi

    Mine was visible
    I felt it, then I saw it, then I eventually went to the doctor and showed HIM it.................. Like 14 months later. It's true, they tell you they don't screen women as young as me.. = you don't need to worry about BC?.. Right?...NO!
    Their misdirection made me delay my concern until it was nearly (Hopefully not) too late............... Ladies under the age of 45 don't get BC?..........Yeah right!
    Thank you for Hosting this most important post.

    Hopefully others will read this and not be mollified by government figures and facts... (That are WRONG!)
    Hugs Jlzz Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Kristin N
    Kristin N Member Posts: 1,968 Member
    tasha_111 said:

    Mine was visible
    I felt it, then I saw it, then I eventually went to the doctor and showed HIM it.................. Like 14 months later. It's true, they tell you they don't screen women as young as me.. = you don't need to worry about BC?.. Right?...NO!
    Their misdirection made me delay my concern until it was nearly (Hopefully not) too late............... Ladies under the age of 45 don't get BC?..........Yeah right!
    Thank you for Hosting this most important post.

    Hopefully others will read this and not be mollified by government figures and facts... (That are WRONG!)
    Hugs Jlzz Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Mine was found on the Mammogram
    My ob/gyn wanted me to get a baseline mammogram, which I did. My bc showed up on the mammogram as microcalcifications as some of the others wrote that theirs did too. From there, we did an ultrasound and a core needle biopsy which proved that it was bc. So, the mammogram did save my breast and my life, as, it wasn't anything that could be felt.

    Kristin ♥
  • Jadie
    Jadie Member Posts: 723
    Mamo
    It clearly showed up on a mamogram. I was 49, IDC- 1.3cm with 2 pos nodes. Thank God for mamograms.

    Jadie<3
  • fauxma
    fauxma Member Posts: 3,577 Member
    Jadie said:

    Mamo
    It clearly showed up on a mamogram. I was 49, IDC- 1.3cm with 2 pos nodes. Thank God for mamograms.

    Jadie<3</p>

    Mine was found on
    Mine was found on mammogam.
    Stef
  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    fauxma said:

    Mine was found on
    Mine was found on mammogam.
    Stef

    I found myself
    Mammogram showed 1.2x1.4 cm. After mastectomy it was 6.5 cm/
    New Flower
  • Sam726
    Sam726 Member Posts: 233

    I found myself
    Mammogram showed 1.2x1.4 cm. After mastectomy it was 6.5 cm/
    New Flower

    I found mine
    I found mine when I was laying in bed adjusting my bra..2.5cm
  • tommaseena
    tommaseena Member Posts: 1,769
    Sam726 said:

    I found mine
    I found mine when I was laying in bed adjusting my bra..2.5cm

    Mammogram
    Mine was found on a mammogram.