This is kind of an amazing story, the more I think about it, so I’ll share a little of what led up to the present-time:
I went in for my every-two-years gynecological check in January, and as I sat in the exam room waiting for the doctor, the technician looked at my chart and said: “Hmmm…it looks like we don’t have you on the schedule for annual mammograms; do you know why that would be?”
Me: “No, I have no idea. I went in for a mammogram in 2014 but haven’t gotten a notice since then that I need another one.”
Tech: “Well, until you’re 50, we do only recommend every other year, but your last mammogram had to be redone because you have very dense breasts, so it seems like we’d want to see you every year.”
Me: “Whatev.”
The doctor comes in, does my exam, does a manual breast exam, and says everything seems fine. Looks at my chart and says, “Hmmm…you didn’t have a mammogram in 2015, and since your breasts are very dense, what do you think about just popping into the waiting room to see if they could get you in today, as long as you’re here?”
Me: “Sure, why not?” (Thought bubble…”Ugh”)
The rest is history – I had my mammogram that day, which showed an abnormality, and I was called back for a second (i.e. worse) mammogram plus ultrasound. That confirmed a suspicious mass, plus some calcifications (a sign of cancer), and I was scheduled for a biopsy a couple days later. They biopsied the mass plus both calcifications and a lymph node that looked a little abnormal. That was all in the course of two weeks!
If the technician hadn’t noticed that in my chart and noted it, I wouldn’t have gone in for my regular mammogram until this November!
Little coincidences or something bigger?
Karen's Cancer Journey & Beyond 