Callback Mammogram - how panicked should I be on a scale of 1-10?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 50% of women under 50 or mid 50s get called back. It's really horrible. In fact, some reputable experts advise less frequent screening mammograms in healthy women with no family history or other risk factors because of that.

But the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history.

Yup. They only find genetic links in about 10%.

Speaking here as a 34yo, zero family history, yet diagnosed with triple positive invasive ductal carcinoma a year ago. Fortunately it was in a spot where I could feel the lump, and my doctors took it seriously. If it was found at age 40 I'd probably be dead or stage 4. If it had grown just another 4mm or gone to my lymph nodes I would have gone through much harsher chemo than I ended up needing. he whining from some persistent posters on here about "unnecessary scares" on mammogram callbacks has gotten really grating. What a privileged position. You got to go back to your life after a few days of worry. You're LUCKY. May you never know the other side, because it looks very different from here.

You have no idea what motivates other people's positions and no idea why something that sounds like a minor annoyance to you might be a major disruption for someone else.

[Anonymous]

I had first callback after going to annual mammos for 10 years. Obviously no one wants a callback. But callback rate is 10% which means I was due. I got a diagnostic in an area of concern. My breast tissue density is apparently slightly asymetrical. The nice thing is after the diagnostic mammo they had me wait in a room and the radiologist read it right away and came out in 15 min to tell me the good news that it was nothing.

[Anonymous]

DP here. 42 years old no health issues, just had my second mamo and got a callback. Waiting to talk to my doctor

[Anonymous]

OP here. I went today and got the all clear. Yay! Now Lord only knows what sort of bill I'm going to get since we are on a high-deductible health plan (and have crazy high premiums) due to my husband's job.

That said, I found the entire thing really traumatic. They called me on a Friday, ruined my weekend, and couldn't see me until Tuesday in a different location. I also have "dense breast tissue" - I asked if I am more likely to get callbacks in the future because of this and the doctor said no. We will see. She said I can skip the diagnostic and go straight to screening mammos if I want, but that obviously insurance doesn't fully cover those the way they do screening ones.

Ugghhhhhh.

[Anonymous]

^^^I wrote that backwards - I can skip the screening and go straight to diagnostic, but would have to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I went today and got the all clear. Yay! Now Lord only knows what sort of bill I'm going to get since we are on a high-deductible health plan (and have crazy high premiums) due to my husband's job.

That said, I found the entire thing really traumatic. They called me on a Friday, ruined my weekend, and couldn't see me until Tuesday in a different location. I also have "dense breast tissue" - I asked if I am more likely to get callbacks in the future because of this and the doctor said no. We will see. She said I can skip the diagnostic and go straight to screening mammos if I want, but that obviously insurance doesn't fully cover those the way they do screening ones.

Ugghhhhhh.

I'm glad you got the all clear. My sister is going through this now. She has to have 3 tests tomorrow and isn't clear on what they're for. Insurance won't pay for them. She, like you, has dense breasts. It really is stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 50% of women under 50 or mid 50s get called back. It's really horrible. In fact, some reputable experts advise less frequent screening mammograms in healthy women with no family history or other risk factors because of that.

But the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history.

Yup. They only find genetic links in about 10%.

Speaking here as a 34yo, zero family history, yet diagnosed with triple positive invasive ductal carcinoma a year ago. Fortunately it was in a spot where I could feel the lump, and my doctors took it seriously. If it was found at age 40 I'd probably be dead or stage 4. If it had grown just another 4mm or gone to my lymph nodes I would have gone through much harsher chemo than I ended up needing. he whining from some persistent posters on here about "unnecessary scares" on mammogram callbacks has gotten really grating. What a privileged position. You got to go back to your life after a few days of worry. You're LUCKY. May you never know the other side, because it looks very different from here.

You have no idea what motivates other people's positions and no idea why something that sounds like a minor annoyance to you might be a major disruption for someone else.

DP. Please tell me more about “the major disruption” as it compares to this poster’s breast cancer diagnosis. I can’t get enough of healthy people whining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something like 50% of women under 50 or mid 50s get called back. It's really horrible. In fact, some reputable experts advise less frequent screening mammograms in healthy women with no family history or other risk factors because of that.

But the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer have no family history.

Yup. They only find genetic links in about 10%.

Speaking here as a 34yo, zero family history, yet diagnosed with triple positive invasive ductal carcinoma a year ago. Fortunately it was in a spot where I could feel the lump, and my doctors took it seriously. If it was found at age 40 I'd probably be dead or stage 4. If it had grown just another 4mm or gone to my lymph nodes I would have gone through much harsher chemo than I ended up needing. he whining from some persistent posters on here about "unnecessary scares" on mammogram callbacks has gotten really grating. What a privileged position. You got to go back to your life after a few days of worry. You're LUCKY. May you never know the other side, because it looks very different from here.

You have no idea what motivates other people's positions and no idea why something that sounds like a minor annoyance to you might be a major disruption for someone else.

DP. Please tell me more about “the major disruption” as it compares to this poster’s breast cancer diagnosis. I can’t get enough of healthy people whining.

I am the OP and not the person you are quoting. I lost my mom to a different type of cancer at a relatively young age. She was previously healthy and we were told through several of the early tests that "it's probably nothing to worry about." We went from "nothing to worry about" to dead in 7 months. So hearing people say "its probably nothing" just isn't that reassuring to me any longer because I've experienced the losing end of that statistic. Sorry my "whining" annoys you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I went today and got the all clear. Yay! Now Lord only knows what sort of bill I'm going to get since we are on a high-deductible health plan (and have crazy high premiums) due to my husband's job.

That said, I found the entire thing really traumatic. They called me on a Friday, ruined my weekend, and couldn't see me until Tuesday in a different location. I also have "dense breast tissue" - I asked if I am more likely to get callbacks in the future because of this and the doctor said no. We will see. She said I can skip the diagnostic and go straight to screening mammos if I want, but that obviously insurance doesn't fully cover those the way they do screening ones.

Ugghhhhhh.

Wow, that's a really low bar for traumatic. I say that seriously, not mean-spiritedly. Friday to Tuesday is not bad at all. I've had to go weeks between screening and diagnostic mammograms and I sleep fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I went today and got the all clear. Yay! Now Lord only knows what sort of bill I'm going to get since we are on a high-deductible health plan (and have crazy high premiums) due to my husband's job.

That said, I found the entire thing really traumatic. They called me on a Friday, ruined my weekend, and couldn't see me until Tuesday in a different location. I also have "dense breast tissue" - I asked if I am more likely to get callbacks in the future because of this and the doctor said no. We will see. She said I can skip the diagnostic and go straight to screening mammos if I want, but that obviously insurance doesn't fully cover those the way they do screening ones.

Ugghhhhhh.

Wow, that's a really low bar for traumatic. I say that seriously, not mean-spiritedly. Friday to Tuesday is not bad at all. I've had to go weeks between screening and diagnostic mammograms and I sleep fine.

NP here. Whether you meant it to be mean or not that is a really insensitive thing to say. If you don’t have anxiety you have no idea what it’s like for others. And yes it is possible to feel traumatized by something that other people would feel differently about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I went today and got the all clear. Yay! Now Lord only knows what sort of bill I'm going to get since we are on a high-deductible health plan (and have crazy high premiums) due to my husband's job.

That said, I found the entire thing really traumatic. They called me on a Friday, ruined my weekend, and couldn't see me until Tuesday in a different location. I also have "dense breast tissue" - I asked if I am more likely to get callbacks in the future because of this and the doctor said no. We will see. She said I can skip the diagnostic and go straight to screening mammos if I want, but that obviously insurance doesn't fully cover those the way they do screening ones.

Ugghhhhhh.

Wow, that's a really low bar for traumatic. I say that seriously, not mean-spiritedly. Friday to Tuesday is not bad at all. I've had to go weeks between screening and diagnostic mammograms and I sleep fine.

NP here. Whether you meant it to be mean or not that is a really insensitive thing to say. If you don’t have anxiety you have no idea what it’s like for others. And yes it is possible to feel traumatized by something that other people would feel differently about.

Agree. I'm 50 and I've had 3 call backs and a random arm pit lump that brought me for an ultrasound in between mammograms. The first call back was very scary and I jumped through hoops to get there asap. By the third I was pushing it out an extra week so I didn't have to reschedule my hair appointment. My sister had her first call back recently and called me in tears the morning of because she got her screening the report and it used the word "mass". I sent her a screenshot of one of my reports to show her that they always used that word and it didn't mean anything yet.

Lots of women go through it. Let's just have some compassion.

[Anonymous]

I think traumatized is probably a strong word to use for a callback which isn’t that uncommon but having by age 33 had TWO biopsies on the same lump and been told all kinds of worrisome things about how it looked including scanning my ancillary lymph nodes during the ultrasound, I will say I am no stranger to the health anxiety these episodes caused. Just the idea of going in for routine mammograms when they start at age 40 (I’m 37 now) gives me anxiety because I worry they’re going to yet again say something should be biopsied and put me in a “waiting to see if the call says cancer” spiral. The over screening and resulting stress they cause isn’t negligible.

[Anonymous]

Those of you who have had frequent callbacks - do you get an ultrasound with your mammogram as a matter of routine? I never had, and I wonder if it’s standard.

[Anonymous]

I actually found the times that I got the all clear more traumatic than the time I got a cancer diagnosis. I think because with the actual diagnosis, you have to accept it and quickly make decisions and just deal with it. Good luck to everyone. These screenings are not perfect and the system is not great. It kind of makes me mad how women get subjected to all of this. They certainly could set it up so that your diagnostic takes place right after a screening that is abnormal. But insurance gets billed differently so they do not. It is maddening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I went today and got the all clear. Yay! Now Lord only knows what sort of bill I'm going to get since we are on a high-deductible health plan (and have crazy high premiums) due to my husband's job.

That said, I found the entire thing really traumatic. They called me on a Friday, ruined my weekend, and couldn't see me until Tuesday in a different location. I also have "dense breast tissue" - I asked if I am more likely to get callbacks in the future because of this and the doctor said no. We will see. She said I can skip the diagnostic and go straight to screening mammos if I want, but that obviously insurance doesn't fully cover those the way they do screening ones.

Ugghhhhhh.

Wow, that's a really low bar for traumatic. I say that seriously, not mean-spiritedly. Friday to Tuesday is not bad at all. I've had to go weeks between screening and diagnostic mammograms and I sleep fine.

Just curious what age you were when you buried your mother?