Less Mammography in my future

[OakLeaf]

PW, I'm glad you feel you came through your biopsies unscathed.

I'll just say that it wasn't the same for me, and leave it at that.

The potential damage from a false positive is far more than "worry." (Although the health effects of worry are significant in themselves.) PTSD, even a mild case, is not fun.

The potential damage from unnecessarily treating a cancer or abnormal cells is enormous. Didn't you read the other studies released this week - that 50% of women have chronic pain after breast cancer surgery, and some enormous fraction of men leave their wives after a cancer diagnosis. If only 1/3 of those cancers could benefit from treatment, that's a huge amount of damage.

The tissue trauma and the massive doses of radiation involved in biopsying abnormal cells has the potential to cause invasive cancer when none would have resulted otherwise.

It's not about "worry."

As I said - we each have to believe what we have to believe, but let's be gentle with each other.


But I guess I will say that this is all academic for me, not only because they'd recommend six-month mammos for me in any case, but also because I am never having another one. I spent a lot of time and energy researching the risks and benefits, and one thing is certain, no one is ever going to touch my breasts without love again. A life lived in a constant state of objectification, pain and terror is just not worth it, to me, especially when there's a 90% chance that I'd receive no benefit from it. Maybe someday I'll even be able to enjoy the touch again.