Mammo`s yearly or 2 yearly for first 5years
Mammos yearly or 2 yearly for first 5years I am post treatment 2.1/2 years.I have just been told I will not been seen in clinic unless my now 2 yearly mammo shows a prob.The hosp up the road still does yearly mammos and clinics for 5 years.IS IT COST CUTTING OR HEALTH REASONS?
Yearly! Hi Vivster,
I am 4 years post treatment. I have yearly mammograms and see onc & surgeons six monthly so I actually get to see someone every three months.
Incidentally my mothers onc tells her that ‘they don’t divorce their women till 10 years’ and she is with same hospital as me.
Valerie x
Hi - I am seen at one of the big London Hospitals and am coming up to 3 years post diagnosis. When I last went last Christmas I was told I would have 2 yearly mammos and yearly checks. I queried this and said I would pay for the mammo but dr. said there is evidence that mammos can cause more problems than they solve so he would not recommend it.
It does bother me rather but I suppose you have to assume they know what they are doing.
Regards Di
minefield Thanx
Its frightening that different hospitals and areas have different treatment styles!! Why cant it be all the same so we know where we are. The 2 hospitals near me have different ideas. I am going to get my GP to support me in changing hospitals. I would rather have yearly check for the 5 years. Incidently I think we are about the same age, im now 44. Although 3 years ago I didnt think I would get here!!
Viv
DO they know what they are doing.? I`m not sure they do know. I think we are all guinea pigs!!! If they knew then surely it would be standard/uniform treatment across the board.I understand the underlying probs caused by mammos but I thought for the first 5 years it was worth the risk.
regards
yearly mammo Hi all,
I have been free for 4 years and have a mammo every year, see oncologist every 6 months and surgeon every 6 months.Been told that after 5years will be free originally but now onc. say she will see me for 10 yeasrs. Not sure if glad or fed up. Want to forget it ever happened. As I now have lyphoedema it is hard.I agree that there should be a uniform method.also what a re the problems with the mammo? NOt aware of any.
charlie
Hi I’m 4 years post diagnosis and I see a registrar (not onc or surgeon) every year and have a mammogram every 2 years. I think that is the minimum they are supposed to do, and I know my health authority is in financial trouble. It’s the good old postcode lottery again.
Annual Mammogram? In my area I believe that they only screen biannually now although patients still have an annual check up.
My surgeon said that he felt that this was because of a scarcity of resources not for clinical reasons.
Anne
its worse still here in wigan
my first time i was called in for checks 3mths, 6mth and 6mths after my op. then a check up on a 2yrly basis after that.
my mammo was on the first anni of my op - but the next ones offered 2yrly after that!
not that i was paranoid i kept ringing for a 12mth check each time. i was fobbed off b4 i wasnt gonna be fobbed off again. hence it was me who found my other lumps and; only for my insistance on having my mind put to rest; was i given another biopsy.
2nd time around - where does that leave me now. lol i know i cant have anymore mammos’ but where do i go from here?
i was told it was a case of if i ‘feel’ anything or ‘notice’ any changes then i should go to the clinic !? !?
anyone out there in the same boat as me?
2 yrly mammos in Plymouth Both my Onc and bc surgeon told me I would only have 2 yrly mammos because they are concerned that yrly mammos may cause cancer due to the radiation. I don’t get it! Why did I get 5 and a half weeks’ of daily radiotherapy after chem, if rx can cause cancer? Never got a satisfactory answer.
I was discharged by the Onc after rx, which is 3 yrs ago. I still get an annual appt with the bc surgeon, and bi-annual mammos/u/s. However, I can ring the bc nurse if I find something is not right. I currently have a very swollen breast, grossly enlarged aureole which is very lumpy, half the breast is pink, like sunburn, and there are some nasty white lumps radiating from the nipple to the chest.
I rang my bc nurse a week ago and she advised me to get an urgent appt with my GP - first time she has done this, as she normally would make me an appt without going through GP. She said if he wasn’t satisfied ask him to send a referral. I have never seen my GP about bc in the 4 yrs since dx. I got lucky, there was a locum female GP on duty and she examined me, said she could see there was something definitely wrong, but didn’ know what it was. She typed out a fax whilst I got dressed. Fax was either delayed or got lost somewhere in the system, so I rang the bc centre on Wed and they said it had just been handed to my bc nurse. She rang yesterday with an appt to see a bc surgeon (not the one I usually see) for next Wed.
Not too confident about this guy, whom I have only seen once,when I presented with a long ropey lump in the top half of the breast - tumour was below the nipple. After a mammo and u/s he said it was due to rx. I didn’t feel he was right, but didn’t know what to do then. I had my annual review about a month later and saw my usual surgeon. He said immediately I had a superficial thrombophlebitis (also called Mondor’s disease) and it had nothing to do with bc - he also said he had never seen Mondor’s in a bc patient, although he had seen it otherwise. It is very rare and he said most doctors have never seen it. He asked if I would let the radiographers come into the treatment room to have a “look and a poke” - be my guest! There was no treatment, and it eventually went away after about a year.
Guess what I am trying to say is that although I no longer see the Onc, and only have mammos bi-annually, they do treat problems seriously, when they present themselves.
I have an inkling it could be inflammatory bc. I have no idea what an invasive ductal tumour feels like, as mine was non palpable and found on normal 3 yrly mammo. I have been online to the Cleveland Clinic in the USA who have an “Ask the Doctor” site, and the doc there said my symptoms are very concerning and to ask for a skin punch biopsy, which I will do. The US bc.org forum has a number of ladies who have gotten ibc after ductal invasive, so it is not unknown. Just wanted it sorted, and treated.
Not nearly as frightened as I was first time round, just annoyed that I may have to go through chemo and surgery again. Apparently you can’t have rx twice on the same breast. The system does seem to work if you have a problem, it’s just difficult to know when to go back to the doctor. Guess I am lucky that the GP is taking it seriously .
Sorry for such a long post, feels so good to get it off my chest - oops, wrong thing to say!
Hugs to all.
Liz.
persistence Liz, just wanted you to know I admire your persistence - not always easy for women in our position. Let us know the outcome of your visit to the surgeon. Regards, Irene
Apointment Update Hi Ladies
After being told last month I wont be seen by bs and only 2yrly mammos. I have just seen onc who seemed somewhat surprised at what I had been told. He says they have an arrangement to alternate apts between breast and onc!! He has arranged to see breast in 3months!! Obviously as I have just seen them I dont know why he has done it but however, I will go as who knows when I will be seen again. Also, he has made an apt to see onc again in 6 months, I am on Tamox, now this apt also surprises me as the lady onc last Nov wanted to DISCHARGE me, I had to ask for this years apt as I was on Zoladex, which has now finished. Not only do health authorities have diff methods it seems so do the doctors. I think it depends on what mood they are in. By the way I made serious eye contact with this man and didnt break off, maybe I intimidated him for a change!!! They are only human after all.
Regards to us all
Hope all ok Hi Liz
Keep at em girl!!! I am so sorry about all the probs you are having. Its bad enough being ill without having to fight the powers that be…I know you have described the symptons of Mondors but what is it exactly??
You take care and let us know how it all goes
regards x
Mondor’s and biopsy Vivster - Mondor’s disease is a superficial vein thrombophlebitis in the breast. It is not associated with bc. My surgeon said he has never seen it in a bc patient, but has seen it otherwise. There is no treatment, and the ropey lump (about 3" long) did finally settle down after about 18 months.
Re ibc after idc - I was seen in the breast care clinic last Wed - 3 hours of poking and prodding. I had a mammo on both breasts, an ultrasound, done by a new Consultant Radiologist who looked all of 18 yrs old. He said no abnormality seen - which I expected. Back to bc surgeon who did a biopsy, which really hurt, as she didn’t put a local anaesthetic in beforehand. BC surgeon and radiologist are both suggesting it is changes in the breast tissue as a result of rx, which finished 3 yrs ago.
The Johns’ Hopkins’ site in the USA is answered by a specialist bc nurse and she said I should have had a skin punch biopsy with a cookie cutter type of device which takes a tiny piece of skin for analysis. I certainly didn’t have that - just a big needle and the surgeon saying “I want to get some cells from under the skin”. The Hopkins’ nurse also said it is unusual to get such breast changes 3 yrs post rx. I know my own body more than they do, and something is not right. Results in 2 weeks. Guess we all learn to have endless patience when dx with bc.
Thanks for your caring - I’ll post when I get the results.
love, Liz.