Olivia Munn Breast Cancer and Double Mastectomy

[Anonymous]

I have dense breasts and have been asking for ultrasound for a decade because I hate mammograms so much but no one will ever approve them. I just skip the mammograms mostly because they cause so much pain.

I noticed in the article that it said this type of breast cancer is typically very slow growing….is that the medical justification for not making this standard of care? Basically that it will show in a mammogram before it gets dangerous?

[Anonymous]

I lost my mom to breast cancer and my score was 22%. What made it jump so high for Olivia? Usually a negative BRCA result and a negative mammogram leads people to a more standard surveillance. I wonder why she didn't say what her family history is. I have had a benign breast biopsy years ago and I expected my score to be higher than Olivia's.

Breast cancer awareness is so important but I can't help feeling down for a lot of people that likely won't get this kind of proactive care unless they have a lump or concerning imaging result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have dense breasts and have been asking for ultrasound for a decade because I hate mammograms so much but no one will ever approve them. I just skip the mammograms mostly because they cause so much pain.

I noticed in the article that it said this type of breast cancer is typically very slow growing….is that the medical justification for not making this standard of care? Basically that it will show in a mammogram before it gets dangerous?

I wrote this in the other Olivia Munn post in the Health & Medicine forum but it got locked so I'm sharing again here.

I just wanted to chime in for those who are worried they aren't wealthy enough for the proper screening.

I am a big fan of Herscan, which travels up and down the east coast doing affordable breast ultrasound screenings. I have dense breasts and have not always had doctors who were proactive with US screenings.

My cancer was diagnosed via Herscan after a clear mammo and it was incredibly accurate (caught the cancer in 2 different quadrants). So I feel I need to do my part to advocate for ultrasounds for dense breasts, and Herscan if your insurance isn't covering it or your doctor won't order it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did she do IVF to get pregnant? Isn't there an increased risk of hormonal cancers like breast because of IVF treatments?

Highly doubtful. Her conception gave off one step away from one night stand vibes.

Not even one step away…definitely not IVF

The woman has cancer and is trying to raise awareness for other women and you people are trying to trash talk her? GTFOOH.

When you sleep with married men, you run the risk of people trash talking you.

Why don’t you start with trashing John if you feel like trashing anyone in the situation.

[Anonymous]

I am baffled that the thread was locked in the health forum. It certainly belongs there much more than it does here. Anyway, let’s continue the conversation about being proactive about your health. I just had a mammogram at my check up, this was my third one. Had I not known to ask for 3-D from my friend who just got diagnosed, they would’ve given me the regular one. Now that my results are back, and I have dense tissue, I know enough to ask for further testing. We have to be our own advocates here! No one is going to care more about our health than we do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am baffled that the thread was locked in the health forum. It certainly belongs there much more than it does here. Anyway, let’s continue the conversation about being proactive about your health. I just had a mammogram at my check up, this was my third one. Had I not known to ask for 3-D from my friend who just got diagnosed, they would’ve given me the regular one. Now that my results are back, and I have dense tissue, I know enough to ask for further testing. We have to be our own advocates here! No one is going to care more about our health than we do.

Agree that the other thread had some very helpful information. I have dense breasts and am going to talk to my doctor about additional testing, too .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did she do IVF to get pregnant? Isn't there an increased risk of hormonal cancers like breast because of IVF treatments?

Highly doubtful. Her conception gave off one step away from one night stand vibes.

Not even one step away…definitely not IVF

The woman has cancer and is trying to raise awareness for other women and you people are trying to trash talk her? GTFOOH.

When you sleep with married men, you run the risk of people trash talking you.

Why don’t you start with trashing John if you feel like trashing anyone in the situation.

I know you think this is some sort of “gotcha”, but I think they’re both trash. This thread just happens to be about her.

[Anonymous]

Don’t most “younger” (premenopausal) women have dense breasts?

I’ve never been offered additional testing, except for when I had a lump, which turned out to be a benign cyst.

I hope nobody thinks we’re blaming the victim here. The issue isn’t that she somehow caused her cancer - it’s that the series of events is confusing and is making us all think we need MRIs because we have dense breasts and had kids in our 30s. If she had additional risk factors, then at least we can understand what the normal standard of care is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have dense breasts and have been asking for ultrasound for a decade because I hate mammograms so much but no one will ever approve them. I just skip the mammograms mostly because they cause so much pain.

I noticed in the article that it said this type of breast cancer is typically very slow growing….is that the medical justification for not making this standard of care? Basically that it will show in a mammogram before it gets dangerous?

I wrote this in the other Olivia Munn post in the Health & Medicine forum but it got locked so I'm sharing again here.

I just wanted to chime in for those who are worried they aren't wealthy enough for the proper screening.

I am a big fan of Herscan, which travels up and down the east coast doing affordable breast ultrasound screenings. I have dense breasts and have not always had doctors who were proactive with US screenings.

My cancer was diagnosed via Herscan after a clear mammo and it was incredibly accurate (caught the cancer in 2 different quadrants). So I feel I need to do my part to advocate for ultrasounds for dense breasts, and Herscan if your insurance isn't covering it or your doctor won't order it.

Thank you for sharing this info. It might really save someone who reads this someday.

[Anonymous]

IVF doesn't have more hormones than pregnancy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have dense breasts and have been asking for ultrasound for a decade because I hate mammograms so much but no one will ever approve them. I just skip the mammograms mostly because they cause so much pain.

I noticed in the article that it said this type of breast cancer is typically very slow growing….is that the medical justification for not making this standard of care? Basically that it will show in a mammogram before it gets dangerous?

Not an expert on this. But it’s my understanding that some things show up in an ultrasound that don’t necessarily show up in a mammogram. And, that ultrasounds can be a similarly powerful screening tool and complement mammograms. So, I’m somewhat surprised that they’re not allowing you to do both.

Two years ago I randomly started getting acute breast pain despite never having experienced it before. It was the worse pain I have ever had in any context. I could not lift anything or perform basic tasks like laundry/packing a suitcase without being in tremendous pain. After ~3 days of this, I went to see my primary care doctor and requested a mammogram. Her hypothesis was fibrocystic breasts. She ordered a mammogram and ultrasound, but indicated she really did not recommend a mammogram given it is not done at my age (I was late 20s), it would likely be painful, and my breasts are likely dense/consequently will

When I got to the imaging place I asked if I could just skip the mammogram. They indicated they would do an ultrasound first. But that if they thought I needed a mammogram they would perform one. Luckily the ultrasound was sufficient. I did a biopsy around a month later (which indicated a fibroadenoma), and ultimately had surgery to have it removed. My follow up utilized an ultrasound too.

My mother is obviously much older, but her doctor ordered/carried out both an ultrasound and mammogram a few years when they discovered an area of concern. It was all good and ended up being a benign cyst.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think ultrasound is considered as effective an imaging technique as mammograms. Otherwise, and especially since they’re much cheaper to perform than mammograms, they would be the standard of care, or at least included in screening protocols for high risk women. But they aren’t. If you’re high risk, annual mammo plus annual MRI with contrast is what’s standard.

[Anonymous]

Because of my dense breasts, they always do ultrasounds on me. Should be standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think ultrasound is considered as effective an imaging technique as mammograms. Otherwise, and especially since they’re much cheaper to perform than mammograms, they would be the standard of care, or at least included in screening protocols for high risk women. But they aren’t. If you’re high risk, annual mammo plus annual MRI with contrast is what’s standard.

It’s interesting, because whenever I get callbacks (because they want additional imaging), the second round is an ultrasound, not an MRI. And when I had a lump, they went straight to an ultrasound, not a mammogram. Are they cheaping out on me? Or are they just seeing what they need to see using a combo of these two things?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IVF doesn't have more hormones than pregnancy

Do you have a cite for that?