I went for my annual mammogram today AaaaaaaaaaaaH! Anyway I had my last one in January last year and then two months later in teh March I got breast lymphoedema. I am now sat here worrying to death that this years mammo will look different to last years because of this and they will think sthg has changed etc etc!
I mentioned it to the Radiographer but she didn’t seem too bothered. I ahve bnits of fibrosis in the breat to caused by the lymphoedema and I am worried what they will look like on the x-ray.
Has anyone had a mammo with breast lymphoedema and did they pick up on anything or think that the lymphoedma was sthg else!? Sorry to harp on but am getting myself in a state .
Alise, all I can say is I’ve had two mammograms with lymphoedema and there was no difference. Mind you, the gynaecologist knew I had the lymphoedema. It shows up on the ultrasound scan though. Why do you think it would affect the mammogram - because any calcifications would have moved? The lymphoedema doesn’t show as far as I know.
Thank you for your reply Zeppa. I am just worried that I have hard bits of fibrosis in the lymphoedema as well?
I think Mammograms scar me witless anyawy and this is just one mote thing to worry about! It didnt help that the Radiographer went off to look at the films and came back to say she would have to do the breat with lymphoedema again because the image wasn’t claer enough because of sthg to do with th size of the slide used. She assured me it was just a technical thing but you never beleieve them do you?! Will get result on Friday,
Well it’s a good thing she checked and did them again, or you would have had to go back again, how frustrating would that be. Maybe the extra fluid makes it harder to focus? She was probably checking against last year’s films when she decided it needed redoing, so if there was differences that’s what she was trying to establish clearly. Maybe the swelling made the whole picture bigger overall and she is trying to scale them to match? Fingers crossed you get good news on Friday, do keep us posted.
I hate mammograms too, i think everybody does. What a stressful job, everyone hates you
I did have fibrosis as well when I had the mammograms, although at the moment it’s better after a fair amount of lymphatic drainage. It’s been nearly 4 years since the operation, next mammogram due shortly.
Hello Alise
I’ve got lymphoedema in my affected breast (I agree it makes the mammograms even more painful than they already were) but I don’t believe it makes any significant difference to the appearance of the mammogram.
In my case, the mammogram is looked at by the radiologist who then comes in to do the ultrasound so I’m able to remind him that I’ve got lymphoedema.
Thank you for all your support as ever. I got the results of mammo back today - NO EVIDENCE OF RECURRENCE!!! yay! Thank GOd that’s over for another year! Just the bloody lymphoedema to cope with now but feel grateful to have gone 7 years NED.
Have my first MLD next week so hopefully this may help breast go down a bit.
