How did you discover your cancer?

[Midwest Alice]

Great idea!!! I will see if I can up date mine

[vlcarr]

Felt a lump by accident, went to GYN. By the time I got to her could barely feel it anymore. Sent for a diagnostic mammo 02/09. Told changes to breast, come back in 6 months. Had neck surgery 04/09. 7 weeks after was getting dressed and brushed up against something much bigger than previous lump. Went for mammo 05/09, ultrasound found 2 tumors, one that did not show on mammo. Both tumors had exact pathology report.

[Jackie07]

30 hours before my 'routine' annual mammogram in 2003, I (Hubby) felt something close to the center of my chest. Surgery, chemo and radiation raised my 5-year survival rate to 92% (supposedly.) 4 years later, after losing 3 jobs in three years, we found out (felt very sick -> [one month] early mammogram -> ultrasound)that the so-called scar tissue on my mammograms had been recurrence all along.

I don't think it was mammogram's fault. I think the doctors and technicians need more education about Her-2 breast cancer. Any doubt (in my case, suspected 'scar tissue' and several 'retakes' every time I was in the mammography room) should have alarmed them to refer me to get an ultrasound. (They never had informed me about the existence of the so-called 'scar tissue'.) Even when it was more than 2 cm, they still thought it was 'scar tissue' (The mammo technician declared after the test - he's not supposed to do that, but it gave me the idea what had been happening all four years.) Fortunately this time the surgeon was the one who had ordered it (after I had made an appointment with her) and she finally caught it - realizing she did not have a 'clean' margin. [She's quite traumatized by it - visibly and audibly distraught when she saw me about the confirmed recurrence.]

[Ruth]

Nursing my daughter....
Ruth

[WomanofSteel]

I found the lump on a self exam.

[nitewind]

Like Brenda, I accidentally discovered it by turning over in bed and felt something that shouldn't have been there and the rest is history!

[v-ness]

found my own. tumor did not exist in march. 1.8 cm in august thanks to HER2+. had i not done self-exams and waited for my march 2010 mammo it would no doubt have been far more than a stage 1. why anyone's wasting money on a task force to tell us not to do self-exams and doctors not to teach us to is beyond me. how much money does it take to say "check yourself and here's how"?

[Audrey]

I noticed a bloody nipple discharge at age 36. Went to my gyn. and he assured me it was probably nothing but referred me to a breast surgeon just to be safe. I had a mammogram and ultrasound, both FOUND NOTHING due to my dense breasts. They gave me some cream to put on my "rash"--after no improvement, I again saw the breast surgeon who finally performed a biopsy. I was diagnosed with Paget's disease, stage 0, and underwent a mastectomy. I thought I was cured at that point, but then found out on my pathologist's report that I actually had Stage III invasive cancer with a 15 cm tumor! Yes, that's right, a 15 cm tumor that was not picked up on mammography or ultrasound. I ultimately had a mastectomy on the remaining breast because I had absolutly no confidence in mammograms catching another recurrence. Fortunately, I am still here doing well 8 years later (thanks to Herceptin)(and God), but I honestly don't know what to think about these new guidelines...For the record, I could not feel a "lump" myself, either, I guess because the tumor was so big and directly behind the nipple??? Anyway, I always advise people to ask for the biopsy, especially if you're under 40 and they tell you "it's nothing"!

[Patb]

My breast cancer was found with a yearly
mammogram by a deligent Dr. who kept
reading and reading it, called me in with
a slight suspicion because the tumor was
very deep and hard to see. It was Grade
3 and growing fast. Thanks to him and the
treatment I received I know I have at least
lived three more years. I believe we have
to do all we can and if that doesn't work
we can say without regret we did all we could.
Brenda I agree with you with all my heart.
You are a rock star.
patb

[schoolteacher]

I found my BC after cutting grass at the end of November 2007. My nipple inverted, so I went and had a mammogram the next week and requested a ultrasound.

Amelia

[Cal-Gal]

Mammogram found DCIS--which led to a MRI which found
ILC---

Inspite of having 11cm of DCIS and 4 tumors of ILC--I felt
NOTHING---(evidently ILC is a sneaky type and hides out and is rare to feel a 'lump')

Thank GOD for the mammogram--

[caya]

I had a clean mammogram and breast ultrasound in July 2006, went in for a breast reduction in October 2006. My plastic surgeon found my 1.7 cm. tumour, cut it out separately (in essence a lumpectomy), and the path came back as BC.

When I had a breast MRI before my mastectomy, another 1.0 cm. tumour was discovered, in the same breast. My very dense, premenopausal breasts hid them both. I had been going for mammos since age 40, no family history, just always felt that something might be lurking in my big dense boobs. All the docs concur that the breast reduction surgery probably saved my life, as it was found early.

I constantly press for breast MRIs for younger women with dense breasts - the other methods show diddly squat for us.

all the best
caya

[hutchibk]

I started having an itchy red right areola. Then an itchy red nipple. It would come and go every few weeks. Little by little it started to sting. About 2 weeks before my annual GYN visit, I noticed a small lump in the lower right quadrant of my right breast. My GYN and I talked about Paget's Disease of the Nipple and the lump. Clinically she said it didn't appear to be Paget's like she had seen in the past, maybe it was an allergic reaction to detergent I was washing my bras with. When she palpated the lump, she couldn't determine for sure but almost felt as though it was fibrous. All of that said, she wasn't going to take any chances and told me to book a digital mammo ASAP. My previous mammo had been 18 months before and was all clear. The mammo showed calcifications, and an ultrasound and biopsy a few days later confirmed it was stage2B breast cancer with Paget's Disease of the Nipple.

[suzan w]

mammogram...age 54 I had yearly mammograms since I was 40. No family history of cancer...any kind.

[margiermc]

After exercising at the YMCA, taking a shower, I did a self exam, found a lump, was all DCIS in a lumpectomy. July of 2008

Weeks later, had back pain, went to the hospital. They found kidney stone in the urine, did a ct scan. October 2008

Test came back, lesions in liver, they did a biopsy, and tested her2 liver met.

Had TCH for 10 weeks, became NED. Jan. 2009

Had vaccine for 6 months. June - Nov 2008

Right now, on herceptin every 3 wk.

Doing well, staying healthy.

margie

[juanita]

was brushing crumbs off my chest and found it. did self-exams but not religuosly so i always wondered what cuased me to find it then. it was my grandmother's birthday who had passed away 10 years earlier.

[MJo]

I was five months late for my annual mammogram. Was very busy and decided to skip a year, since I felt I had little risk. (Little did I know!) Then my boss was diagnosed with BC. So I ran in for a mammogram to be safe. I guess my boss and her BC saved my life. By the way, my boss, who is also a friend, was Her2+. We supported each other through treatment, and we were able to support two more co-workersdiagnosed in the past two years, both Her2-

[v-ness]

i was "hyper-vigilant" and therefore found my own cancer while it was still Stage 1. i had a cluster of cysts in left breast in november 2008. horrified that i hadn't noticed them myself and thought 'my god, what if they'd been cancer?' stopped being haphazard about BSE's. then my sister had 2 friends diagnosed the same year with Stage 3 breast cancer. even though my mammogram in march 2009 was clear, i was doing BSE's all the time. never convinced i was doing them right. my paranoia paid off. felt the lump above left breast in mid-august. lumpectomy in late august proved it to be IDC and HER2+. if i'd waited for and relied solely upon my next mammo who knows how differently things might have been. valerie

[loricar3]

Routine yearly mammogram found the 2.5 cm tumor.