Comments on: No Mammography until 50?! Tell it to Her

By: My Notting Hill

My Notting Hill — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:43:09 +0000

I'm with you and will not be following their guidelines. Two of my childhood friends discoverd cancer at age 39 and just 40 – one early by mammogram and one who did not (she put off her mammogram) My first friend is a 6 year survivor and my other dear friend passed on at age 42.

By: KC

KC — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:33:03 +0000

Getting a biopsy next week. Small "suspicious nodule" found in Lefty. I am 37. Doc wanted me to watch it for 6 months but I did not feel comfortable with that. Imagine waiting 13 years! 50 is bullsh*t.

By: Carmen

Carmen — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:32:36 +0000

Unbelievable. Thank you for sharing this information. Off to check out your friend's blog and the More Birthdays campaign!

Carmen

p.s. Thanks for visiting my blog!

By: Dewayne

Dewayne — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:58:30 +0000

you got it！i like it!!!..................................................

By: slouchy

slouchy — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:25:13 +0000

Amen. Thinking of your friend.

By: thecheekofgod

thecheekofgod — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:30:54 +0000

My wife and I have a good friend who found the tumor in her breast in her 30s during a self exam. And now they are saying those shouldn't be taught or encouraged either.

Our friend is still alive.

Whatever happened to common sense . . .

By: Sue @ Laundry for Six

Sue @ Laundry for Six — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:26:28 +0000

Thank you. This infuriates me. And now they are recommending raising the age of routine Pap smears. So which types of male cancers are we going to let run rampant?

By: PFunky

PFunky — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:56:23 +0000

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are a beautiful writer, a phenomenal mom, sister and friend and I am proud that you are my best friend!

By: Aimee Greeblemonkey

Aimee Greeblemonkey — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:16:54 +0000

WORD.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:49:29 +0000

Amen. I could write almost this same post about my own best friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 38. She felt a lump so her dr. sent her for a mammogram. That lump turned out to be nothing…but the mammo found something else, something small enough that she wouldn't have been able to feel it for a few years. That something was, of course, cancer. Lumpectomy? Forget that–my friend elected to have a double mastectomy–and thank god she did because it turned out that whole breast was riddled with cancer. ZERO margins–cancer clear up to the skin. Lymph node involvement. She had to endure 6 months of grueling chemo, 6 weeks of radiation and a slew of reconstructive surgeries. But she's alive today–41–and cancer free.

The thing that I've heard over and over again from cancer survivors is that they just KNEW something wasn't right. Whether it was a doctor who told them don't worry but they pursued it and got the cancer found, or the doctors urging a lumpectomy which would have left a breast full of cancer, I can think of story after story of survivors who ignored what their doctors were telling them because what their bodies were telling them turned out to be what they needed to be listening to.

Seriously–we can't let insurers who don't want to have to pay for women's medical care doom thousands of women to certain death with these ridiculous new recommendations.