Another mammogram?

[Dana]

Originally Posted by Hokuspocus

The SBE isn't worthless!

I couldn't agree more..... That is why I almost stroked when I heard this data... take it with a grain of salt, it is only one study Done on Russians and Chinese women.

PLEASE DO YOUR SELF BREAST EXAMS..... THEY DO SAVE LIVES

[jr_lenz]

this topic is all that I have been dealing with for the last few months...SBE aren't worthless, but the studies have shown that they have no effect on the mortalilty rate of breast cancer.

since we can't prevent breast cancer, the best way to measure how well we are doing is to look at the mortality rate. as long as fewer women are dying of breast cancer then what we are doing is working.


the changes in mammography, have made the test more sensitve, therefore more cancers are found early treated and stopped, which equals a decrease in mortality rate. good thing to spend money on.


there is so much funding that goes into breast cancer education and screening programs. to make the most out of that funding we try to focus on the things that are going to make the BIGGEST difference. think of these made up numbers.

we have 500 dollars to spend in a community for mammograms and breast education. We spend 300 on providing mammograms to those who can't afford it. and we find 10 cancers in stage I. those women are treated and
their lives are saved. we spend the other 200 on sbe education, we are able to educate 1000 women how to do a sbe. the studies show that one of those thousand will find a lump, also studies show that by the time that you are able to find a lump in is usually a stage II by the best and offen a stage three. the chances of saving this womens live is reduced because of the late diagnosis.

if with that same 200 dollars we were able to screen 500 women. the average cancer detection rate for screening mammograms is 3-4 % so that could mean 150 to 200 early stage breast cancers could be found with that money.

sbe exams have a low yield of sucess, however i don't think they are useless. your doctor can teach you the proper way of doing them, and if you are doing them then you need to do them the same time every month, and do them every month for them to work. if you are only doing them every 3 months then you aren't going to remember what you felt the month before or know what canges have happened in your breast.

what we believe in our medical community is that women can be taught by their doctors with low level of cost, and that the money should be directed to areas with higher overall sucess rates.


i can give you much mor details, if you are intrested, but i am typing with one hand, so if you have question, post and i can do my best to answer them

[Kristie]

Originally Posted by roz

I had the same thing last year and freaked out because of my family history as well. It was nothing.

same here!! was, fortunately, nothing to worry about

[CLErocks]

Best wishes for tomorrow!

[amelia]

I hope all goes well tomorrow.

[Rebes]

Thanks for everyone's well wishes. I had the seconf mammogram today, and then they still wanted to do the ultrasound. The Dr. was okay with what he saw, he said it was probably fiberous tissue, and to come back in a year. What a relief....I hate getting older!

[CLErocks]

Good news! Glad everything went well!

[roz]

Great news!

[patty@myflightsurgeon.com]

Just my .02 but,
It doesn't matter if you have your well woman and mammo together or not.

"The most important thing is DO A SELF BREAST EXAM EVERY MONTH, because no matter when you have a "professional" check, NO-ONE will catch the difference in your breast but YOU, if YOU check your breasts every month YOU will feel a difference if there is one."

End of rant

Sorry I have a sister who has breast cancer so I am very passionate about the subject.