Mammogram and "gynecologic cancer" question

NoTimeForCancer
NoTimeForCancer Member Posts: 3,517 Member
edited March 2023 in Uterine/Endometrial Cancer #1

Hello ladies. So some of you may know I moved from the northern half of the U.S. down to the south and it has been quite a learning experience. For those of you up north I was surprised to hear that you have to water the foundation of your house down here. Never heard of it and I continue to learn what the south has to offer every day.

So I had to get back on the mammogram train and was given the name of the place from a co-worker. I has thrilled to see how easy it was to schedule and listed my new gyn onc's office to get the results. LOL - someday I will / need to find a PCP.

Part of the checkin process was completed on the ipad/tablet with questions. It asked about you or your family having breast or a gynecologic cancer. I was clipping through and when I added myself for having had cancer my only option to select from was Breast or Ovarian. While I understand the close relationship between the two is common, why not just ask Breast or Ovarian? why say gynecologic at all? Some of the other gynecologic cancers are thought to be very close to Ovarian so while I let the woman know and she noted it, you bet I filled out their little survey and said they should be asking for ANY of the gyn cancers. (Cervical, Ovarian, Endometrial/Uterine, Vaginal, Vulvar or Fallopian tube)

Surprisingly it also didn't ask about any surgeries I had on my breasts and no place to note the lump removed, benign, in 2009.

Have to keep people honest and educate when we can. Now will they change anything? Probably not, but you can bet I'll be happy to give my opinion. 😉

Comments

  • ConnieSW
    ConnieSW Member Posts: 1,688 Member
    #2

    Ok, I bite. Why do you have to water your foundation?

  • NoTimeForCancer
    NoTimeForCancer Member Posts: 3,517 Member
    #3
    https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1704840#Comment_1704840

    LOL! It gets so dang dry down here in Texas the ground can crack and get crevices large enough to put your hand in which can affect your foundation. And for that reason you will not find basements down here, and if you do, it is a house I was told to stay away from.

    Heck, when I was looking for a house I saw a stain on a ceiling upstairs and thought there might be an issue with the roof. My agent told me, "It could be from the water heater." Wait, what???? Yeah, apparently putting water heaters, and I am not talking the tankless ones, is also a thing down here.

    It has been about 9 months of living in a new land! LOL

  • Forherself
    Forherself Member Posts: 1,018 Member
    #4

    I wonder if you could just leave the choice blank, and if they had a problem with it, tell them you did not have the correct option. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Two years ago, the mammogram person asked me if I had had uterine or ovarian cancer and checked a box, but this year they didn't ask me any questions. I assume they kept the information. By the way, you should get yourself a Primary care doc. It is getting harder to find one, so if you wait until you really need one, you might not find one.

  • MoeKay
    MoeKay Member Posts: 495 Member
    #5

    Does anyone know what the radiologist does differently when a patient reports a having had of one of the screened-for cancers? Given my history, I have mixed feelings on this issue, but perhaps I'm overlooking something.

    This goes back a while, but after my endometrial cancer diagnosis, I had two breast biopsies within a couple of years. One needle biopsy on the right, and a Mammotome on the left. Both negative. Then one year the radiologist said I needed two more biopsies, one in each breast. My local breast surgeon agreed that I needed two biopsies, but I decided to get a second opinion with a top breast surgeon in a nearby major city on my need for the biopsies. If truth be told, I was more than a little tired of having invasive procedures on my breasts unless they were really warranted. My second opinion breast surgeon examined me, reviewed the mammogram, and had her radiologist review it as well. Both concluded that I did not need either biopsy. The city breast surgeon followed me closely for a couple of years and then put me back on the normal screening mammogram track. That was eleven years ago, and all my mammograms since then have been normal.

    I guess my question is, are radiologists looking at certain cancer survivors' mammograms differently than non-survivors? I know 10-15% of breast cancers are missed on mammography. If the radiologist is looking at us differently than those women without a history of certain cancers, is this helping or hurting?

    What do you think?

  • NoTimeForCancer
    NoTimeForCancer Member Posts: 3,517 Member
    #6

    I agree on challenging and wonder if they 'look at us differently'.

    I had the needly biopsy and small surgery back in 2009 and even with it being benign, the surgeon wanted me to take tamoxofin. I said NO. Turns out I didn't need any help getting endometrial cancer.

    However, I would like them to look a little closer since my mother had it and two sisters just a year or so ago. Strangely the office up in Indianapolis told me I had dense breasts and the report I just got said I do NOT have dense breasts. So it is all up to interpretation it seems.

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