Abnormal mammo

[OakLeaf]

help - my doctor wants me to have a biopsy because of microcalcifications on my mammogram. I am VERY reluctant to do this and wishing I'd never had the mammo in the first place. From the reading I've done (and believe me I've done a LOT), it really seems like the odds of benefiting from diagnosing and treating DCIS are minimal, especially in comparison to the risks and harms of treatment.

I want to get a second opinion before I agree to the biopsy but I have no idea where to turn. Anybody have a line on somebody within a reasonable radius of Columbus, Ohio (Indianapolis, Cinti/Northern KY, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, etc.) who favors a conservative approach?

[beccaB]

my friend has microcalcifications, and had the biopsy. The docs are not doing any additional stuff, other that having follow-up mammograms. Hers was not malignant.

[bambu101]

I have been through this twice, on the right side, with 2 needle-localizations (NOT fun) and 2 biopsies, both negative. The stress of the procedures and waiting for the results was very intense.

I have already decided that if this happens again, I will take the conservative wait-and-see and come back in 6 months approach. I think that a biopsy is recommended to cover the proverbial behinds of the doctors involved.

Just my 2 cents...............

Wendy

[makbike]

Oakleaf, please get the biopsy. I have a friend who had microcalcifications show up in her mammo and she took a wait and see approach. A friend of hers who was a doctor encouraged her to go in for a biopsy which she did. It came back as cancer. Keep us posted.

[Pedal Wench]

I agree with Makbike, and this is after (I think, I've lost count...) 6 biopsies and 2 needle biopsies. I wouldn't be able to sleep taking a wait and see approach. Waiting the two weeks after they find something on a mammo until the biopsies is torture enough.

I have to say that regretting getting the mammo in the first place is disturbing to hear. They're the first line of defense, and early detection is so crucial in this disease.

[bmccasland]

Oakleaf - go for the biopsy! My Mom put it off, and 6 months later she saw someone else, had the biopsy, and was rushed to surgery. I still remember getting the phone call - "your mother is out of surgery for breast cancer." And I was clueless that she was having surgery, let alone for cancer.

I don't mean to scare you, but the risk is too great. Biopsy and it's nothing, worry over. But if it is the big C, it's better to do something while it's small.

Got to admit I freaked when the radiologist wanted extra views and an ultrasound after my first abnormal mammogram. After moving here from NoCal, my doc couldn't get my old films - they "disappeared". So there was nothing to compare. After that scare, I really appreciate the fact that my current doc's office went themselves to the closed hospital to retrieve my old films after Katrina, so I could take them with me when I had my first mammogram post-storm. (the upper floors of the hospital weren't dammaged, but the hospital was closed none-the-same for two years.) Having reference films, the radiologist knows the "spot of interest" hasn't changed in several years.

[Velobambina]

Better safe than sorry. Get the biopsy.

I had a breast cancer scare in the early 90s. A tumor. Ended up getting it removed, and I was lucky. It was benign.

[mudmucker]

Please get the biopsy. I had a breast cancer scare in 2001. Because my maternal grandmother died of breast cancer, they said they wanted bypass a needle biopsy and go right into surgery to get the lump removed outright. I was a bit alarmed at this aggressive approach, and was actually miffed because I just thought it might be a cut and scalpel happy surgeon trying to get more money out of the system.

Except the more I thought about it...if they took the whole thing out they would better be able to test pathology and would be better able to recommend a course of treatment in the event that it was bad news. AND, I didn't want to be sitting there 8 months later after a wait and see attitude, only to find out that it turned into something which I could have addressed earlier on. Always try to catch something early, especially when you have that opportunity ! You are only gambling if you wait.

I don't care how much pain I have to endure early on to get that accomplished. I want to know up front and early.

Fortunately, mine turned out to be just a benign mass.

[Kathi]

If you want a second opinion go to Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. That's where I used to go for my mammograms and biopsy. I really liked the atmosphere and consideration the staff gave me.

Wherever you go do it soon. Waiting will only create a "what if" situation in your mind and cause you stress.

I had sterotactic biopsies and they are pretty simple. So simple that they are not worth the stress of waiting.

I doubt if you'll find a "conservative approach". Dr's have to take a "worst case scenario" approach due to fear of lawsuits.

[Chicken Little]

Get it done! Do it every year, if you have to. Your only defense is knowledge- and it can save your life.

[KnottedYet]

I had the "Big C".

It was found before it metastasized. Lucky me!

The cancer I had (malignant melanoma) is genetically linked to breast cancer. My grandma had both cancers, and died of it. I'm telling you, if anyone finds anything funky in one of my boobies, that puppy is coming OFF. Whole damm thing. Bye bye. Sex will certainly be different, but at least I'll be alive and able to get it going on with whatever I've got left.

If you have a history of skin cancer or breast cancer in your family, PLEASE get the biopsy immediately. If you have no history of any cancers in yourself or your family, you might have the luxury of waiting it out for a few months.

I'm biased, I'd get the biopsy. Heck, I'd get a lump-ectomy and take out the entire neighborhood. So take my statement with a grain of salt.

[FlyingScot]

I PM'd you!

[OakLeaf]

aw, thanks everyone for your concern :o

There are about eight different cans of worms I really don't want to open here - but as you may have gathered from my OP, I already opened one of them just by having a mammo, so I'm steadily getting sucked into the maw of the medical-industrial complex. But there are studies published in respectable peer-reviewed journals that support my position. According to the surgeon, the only thing that my mammo is suspicious for is DCIS, and there is plenty of literature to suggest that DCIS is massively over-diagnosed and over-treated. Neither the diagnosis nor the treatment is benign (in the general sense of that word).

Numerically there aren't a LOT of studies - but then, as the recent health news showed, there weren't a lot of the studies that demonstrated antidepressants' inefficacy that got published, either. (Unlike prostate cancer, there are NO studies I've found that actually compare watchful waiting against aggressive treatment for DCIS - only comparing one treatment against another.)

But the point is that I don't really want to do this against medical advice. I know those doctors are out there, and I really want to talk to one of them and hear their advice on my individual situation before I jump any further into the meat grinder.

Maybe I can just track down one of those researchers and maybe they might know of a like-minded colleague in my area.

[MillieNZ]

I'm not really understanding why you want to take a conservative "wait and see" approach..... but i'm often slow on the uptake !

I'm with most of the other that have posted, get a biopsy done as soon as possible.....it doesn't hurt that much

As some people on here already know, I've been through surgery and 18 weeks of chemotherapy for breast cancer, i'm about to start 4 weeks of radoitherapy........... believe me better to deal with the issue now than in 6 months when it could mean going through the same.......... I really wouldn't want you to have to do that........

[OakLeaf]

I'm going for my second opinion tomorrow. I'm going to someone who's probably still going to recommend a biopsy, but now I'm armed with questions and statistics. I am SO SO SO glad I waited, took a step back, did a lot of research and thinking. I am SO grateful for my DH being here, helping me to not panic and make a decision based on fear rather than facts, and suggesting that I ask for the second opinion. Even if nothing else, the perspective of time has helped me see how shabbily the first surgeon and her staff treated me, and hopefully the doctor I'm seeing tomorrow will be a little more respectful.

There will always be unknowns, but the few questions I have left, either the doctor will be able to answer them and I'll be able to make a smart decision, or if she can't answer them, that will help make my decision, too.

Millie, I feel for you and wish you the absolute best in your treatment. Please don't feel that my decision for myself is a judgment on your decision.

ETA: if anyone else is going through this and wants a place to start, start on the HON page (http://www.hon.ch) - the code that reputable health sites subscribe to. They have a search engine right off their page that searches only sites that adhere to the HON Code, so they weed out both the drug/imaging/herb company sales pages, and the anecdotal patient pages that may be heartfelt but not particularly useful.

[NbyNW]

I hope you come away from the second-opinion doc feeling like you have the information you need to make a decision.

I've been playing phone-tag with my parents in Pgh since your OP . . . they are plugged into the medical community there and Mom is a 19- (20? I really can't remember) year breast cancer survivor herself.

Good luck and let us know how it goes . . .

[OakLeaf]

Yes, I am in utter horror of the procedure (in which my body will be a completely passive object for medical action, my sensitive glandular tissues will be bombarded with radiation, and a swizzle-stick sized "needle" will be stuck in a major erogenous zone). And I am a little scared of what the results may show.

But that's not why I'm so angry.

I'm angry because there is such a small chance that the biopsy - positive OR negative - will show anything that there is a point in treating. (According to my surgeon's own statistics, a 7% chance. Figures vary widely, but everyone agrees that they are very slim.) Because of the CERTAINTY of harm from invasive procedures, the rational decision would be to stop now before they go any further. Yet the industry's fear-based advertising campaign has succeeded in working on my emotions, and on my husband's, to the point where if I make the reason-based decision to forego the biopsy, I will be continually haunted by fear. And this is true even though I know that there is NO reassurance in the medical system - only that I feel and hope that it will be emotionally easier for me to call it over if I do have the procedure and it's negative.

On the other hand, if it's positive for DCIS, it will be MUCH harder for me to call it over without further surgery, especially considering the possibility that the procedure itself will make it more likely that DCIS will develop into an invasive cancer.

And I'm also angry because the campaign of fear has worked so well on other women (and on my DH), there is no one I know personally, to whom I can talk about this non-judgmentally. A little bit of emotional support would go a long, long way here. THANK YOU so much to the couple of people here who PM'd me.

The psych nurse who helped me think this through, suggested that I make the decision that I'm least likely to regret. I can't do that though. The only decision I would be sure I wouldn't regret (even if I should eventually develop an invasive cancer) would be never to have a biopsy based solely on mammography without clinical findings. But as I said, emotionally I can't handle that, because of the campaign of fear.

This time tomorrow, hopefully the procedure will be over.

Wish me luck.

[KnottedYet]

Good luck!

Please don't be angry at the fear experienced by of those of us who've had cancer. Our fear is honest, and like I said in my earlier post, to be taken with a grain of salt. We have fear, but that doesn't mean we don't support you.

((((Oakleaf)))))

[OakLeaf]

(((Knot))) I'm NOT angry at your fear. I'm sorry my post could be read that way :(

I'm angry at the ones who, for cold calculated commercial interests, have instilled it in you, and in me.

[KnottedYet]

((((Oakleaf)))) It's ok. (well, actually, the whole situation totally s*cks, but you know what I mean!) I will be thinking about you tomorrow.

[Tuckervill]

I'm sorry you're in between that rock and hard place! I wish there were a better answer.

Please let us know how it goes.

Karen

[NbyNW]

(((Oakleaf))) -- you'll be in my thoughts tomorrow. There's nothing to be afraid of until you know for sure if there is something to be afraid of. I'm sorry the biopsy has to be so invasive.

[mudmucker]

Oakleaf, I noticed you've posted today but you haven't posted on this thread. You must have had the procedure already? How did it go - Any other thoughts or feelings after the fact - or the same? When will you get results?

[OakLeaf]

I'm home. (my earlier post this a.m. was before I left home) The Lidocaine is worn off. It's sore, but not awful. They had to go in through two different incisions (because my breasts are small). I didn't really need to see them cleaning the blood up off the floor afterward.

I held it together through the procedure. They let me keep my iPod on, which I'd loaded up with Steven Halpern music, and that helped a lot. But as soon as they let me out of the clamp, I just started bawling. Startled the techs, I think. Well, too bad for them. :rolleyes:

Really, the only thing my self-education hadn't prepared me for physically was the stress on my spine (hyperextended low back and severely twisted neck, clamped into that position for an hour and a half). Wish I could do Pilates right now to ease some of that out, but I don't want to do quite that much arm movement just yet.

The techs wanted to give me all kinds of activity restrictions (the surgeon had told me I could go back to teaching high impact aerobics tomorrow, which I didn't believe for a minute :rolleyes:) - I'll split the difference I think. I'm still planning to ride Wednesday evening barring any problems.

I should have the results in 2-3 days. I'll let you all know. Thanks for asking. :)

[Blueberry]

((((Oakleaf)))))

Hope you're feeling much better soon.

CA

[KnottedYet]

(((((Oakleaf)))))

[NbyNW]

What a rough day! Be good to yourself.

Since you're not feeling up to Pilates, maybe a little hot/cold therapy, depending on which you think will make you more comfortable? Just thinking maybe there are some more passive-type things you can do to take care of those muscles.

[Natural Beauty]

oakleaf...you have been in our thoughts and prayers and we support you. positive attitude and a fighting spirit go a long way.