Mammogram is done.
So is my uncertainty.
Everything is good.
Next up: MRI in November.
Posts Tagged ‘MRI’
Mammogram Done
Monday, June 21st, 2010Beautifully Benign
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
matze_ott, Flickr
Five years ago, on November 24, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. And today, on another November 24, I learned that my recent MRI, showing some suspicious little nodules, is nothing to worry about. The news comes from my surgeon, who offered me a second opinion. The first opinion, by the way, was that I probably had nothing to worry about, but now it’s official:
“Your MRI is fine, the small spots represent fibrocystic disease, a benign condition.”
Whew!
MRI Shows Low-Risk Changes
Friday, November 20th, 2009Crap.
I was hoping for an e-mail from my oncologist that went something like this:
“Your MRI results are back, and everything is great!”
But this is what I got:
“Your MRI report is attached; My take is that there are some low risk changes and that we should keep doing what we have been, the mammogram alternating with the MRI. Let me know if you want to talk.”
We talked. And my doctor said he thinks we are fine to just keep monitoring — even though the report said things like: There has been interval development of few small, less than 3 mm enhancing foci located more posteriorly within the right breast which demonstrate Type II enhancement curves. No space-occupying lesions are identified. No other concerning enhancing lesions are identified.
You see, tests like MRI are very sensitive, and they pick up all sorts of things. It’s all probably benign, it could be fibrous stuff, or hormonal stuff, who knows.
The “who knows” part is what scares me. Maybe it shouldn’t. The radiologists involved are apparently very cautious, and if they were worried, they would have recommended further action. Still, I’m going to have my surgeon and some others take a look at the report on Monday.
Some good news — everything on the left side is good, and that’s where the cancer was five years ago. It’s the right side that is causing trouble now.
More as the mystery unfolds.
Either I’m Fine or I’m Sick
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Another MRI.
Quick this time around.
Answered some questions.
Filled out some forms.
Blue gown and underwear.
IV in arm.
Beeping and screeching.
Kelly Clarkson in my ears.
8 minutes on my back.
20 on my belly.
Boobs through holes in table.
Someone snapping pictures.
“Pretty,” she called the pics.
I was still and didn’t move.
The real answer comes tomorrow:
Everything is fine, or maybe it’s not.
Relaxing at home.
Not worried, really.
Either I’m fine, or I’m sick.
I know the drill.
5 years looming on horizon.
Will I make it free and clear?
I think so.
Will let you know.
Mammogram and MRI: Mix ‘Em Up
Thursday, October 8th, 2009Check this out: I just read in Family Circle magazine (October 1, 2009) that alternating between mammograms and MRIs every six months is a potentially lifesaving measure for women at high risk for breast cancer. This comes straight from new research out of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. I find this reassuring because it’s the exact schedule I follow — mammogram, MRI six months later, mammogram six months later, and so on.
More research, from Dartmouth University in Hanover, New Hampshire, found that MRIs can spot tumors not found in mammogram or ultrasound in 20 percent of breast cancers.
I think I’m covered. Whew.
