I spoke with the death panel earlier today...

[CoffeeCat]

...and they said I can now get a mammogram.

Last spring, I had a mammogram. I told the mammogram tech that I loved
technology and I began asking questions about the pictures she just took.
She flipped the screen around and we both looked at each other.

We both saw it. A dot on my right breast. Unmistakable. Frightening. Obvious.

The tech reassured me, "It could be anything...blood vessels, some anomaly. It
doesn't mean the worst."

We had a discussion about this dot. We both saw it.

I called my doctor the next day and expressed my concern. She called me back and said she
spoke with the radiologist who read my mammogram. They saw no dot.

The dot had disappeared. I expressed relief, but concern. How can a dot disappear? I
told my doctor that I would have more peace of mind if she said they saw the dot but that
it was a blood vessel or something benign. But no dot? That was a mystery. Did my
films get mixed up with someone another patient's records? Was there some mistake?

I know I saw that dot.

I asked for another mammogram. I was denied. The insurance company said I was only
allowed one mammogram per year. A doctor had reviewed my mammogram, found nothing and
they were not going to pick up the tab for another mammogram.

So, it's a year later. I called my insurance company today, and they gave me the green
light to get another mammogram because a year has passed.

The panel has spoke.

I have an appointment this week. Let's just hope we don't see a dot. I'm scared.

[spanone]

1. wow, you think your doctor would have ordered a follow up if there's a question.

guess not.

no dots.....:hi:

[HipChick]

5. they won't ...my dr ordered a follow-up breast MRI

My health insurance refused to pay for it..

[laughingliberal]

2. I'll cross my fingers for you and tell you an encouraging story

I have a husband who has possibly the highest lung cancer risk of any human on the planet. Started smoking at 10, apprenticed as an antique restorer/furniture finisher from the age of 15 and has now worked in that field for 47 years (huge exposures to MEK), and is a downwind survivor of Nevada's above ground nuclear testing. So, my question is not if my husband will have lung cancer but when.

5 years ago (he was 57) I was standing in the holding area waiting for them to take him back for his femoral endarterectomy and the surgeon walked in. He spoke with us briefly and then turned to me and said, "Oh, they found a spot on his lung on the X-ray." I thought I would faint right there. After they took him back, I went to the desk and demanded a copy of the X-ray report. The report said there was a 4 cm cavitation on the right lung and follow up CT was advised. The surgeon came out a couple of hours later to talk to me. "Surgery went great. He can go home in the morning." I told him in no uncertain terms I was not waiting until we get a consult and wait for another doctor to order the CT, that I wanted it done before we left the hospital. Knowing I am an oncology nurse, I think he realized there was no way to calm me down without doing what I asked.

The CT came back with no sign at all of what had been seen on the X-ray. There was a 5 mm spot in a different area, too small to biopsy. Follow up CT was advised in 6 months. We had 3 follow ups, altogether, in a year and a half. That 5 mm spot never changed and no new spots have ever developed. Now, he has a CT for it about every 2 years and nothing further has ever shown up.

It is hard not to worry and I have no way of knowing the significance of the dot you and the tech saw but I can attest from this experience with my husband and many patients through the years that many little artifacts do show up on US's and X-rays which turn out to be absolutely nothing. I will hold thoughts for that to be the case for you. :)

[CoffeeCat]

4. Thanks so much for taking the time...

...to share your story about your husband and his "dot."

I appreciate your kindness.

I am thinking positive thoughts and doing ok...but my story really drives home
the point that profits tend to trump medical care, and it's the patient who
suffers--either by worrying or because of an improper diagnosis.

Thanks again. Kudos to you for being an oncology nurse. I imagine that is
tough, but very rewarding, work.

[laughingliberal]

7. Yes, it is uncalled for that you would have to wait this long for follow up

And your story does drive home the points about who suffers in our system. I was a nurse before it was like this and it is a constant source of anger and sadness for me to see how badly people are hurt by the industry now.

Please let us know how it turns out. I will be thinking of you.

[Shell Beau]

3. No dot.No dot. No dot. No dot.

Glad you can ease your mind though!!! You need and deserve it. Everyone does.

[Subdivisions]

6. ...No dot. No dot. No dot. No dot. No dot....

No dot. No dot. No dot. No dot. No dot. No dot. No dot. No dot...