Too Busy For a Mammogram
It was brought home to me this week how very important it is to get your mammogram when you turn 40.
I didn't and now I am waiting on a biopsy for a mass that they found.
I have had breast exams the last couple of years but - a mammogram caught something that neither I nor my Doctor did.
Early detection is the most important thing you can do for yourself to find and treat breast cancer, it is much easier to treat when found early.
The chances that it can be removed and the spread stopped are so much greater when found early.
This also means the cancer may not spread to other parts of your body.
We know that remission and curing the cancer is much greater if found in the early stages, not to mention the surgery is much less invasive if you detect it early.
Excluding skin cancer breast cancer is the most common cancer in women.
Resources say that this type cancer is found in 1 out of 3 American women diagnosed with cancer.
One in 9 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85.
It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women.
This is why it is so very important for you to do early screening and detection.
Some women have abnormalities in their breasts, like scar tissue, fibroid tumors, and other irregular masses.
There are many established risk factors for breast cancer, including family history, hormonal factors, irradiation of the chest area when young, personal history of malignancy, lifestyle, age, and proliferative breast disease.
If breast cancer is found during an early exam, it is usually confined in the breast area and small, not having time to grow larger and spread into other parts of your body.
Age is the biggest risk in developing breast cancer.
As you age you are more at risk that is why you should start having mammograms at age 40.
Women that are younger than 50 usually are less inclined to be screened and don't realize the benefits of breast cancer screening.
We tend to be busy and put off that screening and therefore the risk is extremely high in the spread to other parts of your body and harder to contain.
Another risk is family history.
That is one of the first questions asked when you get screened.
Women that have close relatives who have had this kind of cancer have an increased risk of being diagnosed themselves.
The risk is greater if more than one close relative like mother, sister, or daughter has been diagnosed and if it occurred before menopause or if it was bilateral (both sides).
This can increase your chances up to 8 times the normal risk.
This means that people with close family that have been diagnosed with breast cancer can have up to an 80% greater chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
That is why if you are at risk in this category, or even if you are just 40 and over you should never, be too busy or put off your yearly mammogram.
I didn't and now I am waiting on a biopsy for a mass that they found.
I have had breast exams the last couple of years but - a mammogram caught something that neither I nor my Doctor did.
Early detection is the most important thing you can do for yourself to find and treat breast cancer, it is much easier to treat when found early.
The chances that it can be removed and the spread stopped are so much greater when found early.
This also means the cancer may not spread to other parts of your body.
We know that remission and curing the cancer is much greater if found in the early stages, not to mention the surgery is much less invasive if you detect it early.
Excluding skin cancer breast cancer is the most common cancer in women.
Resources say that this type cancer is found in 1 out of 3 American women diagnosed with cancer.
One in 9 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85.
It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women.
This is why it is so very important for you to do early screening and detection.
Some women have abnormalities in their breasts, like scar tissue, fibroid tumors, and other irregular masses.
There are many established risk factors for breast cancer, including family history, hormonal factors, irradiation of the chest area when young, personal history of malignancy, lifestyle, age, and proliferative breast disease.
If breast cancer is found during an early exam, it is usually confined in the breast area and small, not having time to grow larger and spread into other parts of your body.
Age is the biggest risk in developing breast cancer.
As you age you are more at risk that is why you should start having mammograms at age 40.
Women that are younger than 50 usually are less inclined to be screened and don't realize the benefits of breast cancer screening.
We tend to be busy and put off that screening and therefore the risk is extremely high in the spread to other parts of your body and harder to contain.
Another risk is family history.
That is one of the first questions asked when you get screened.
Women that have close relatives who have had this kind of cancer have an increased risk of being diagnosed themselves.
The risk is greater if more than one close relative like mother, sister, or daughter has been diagnosed and if it occurred before menopause or if it was bilateral (both sides).
This can increase your chances up to 8 times the normal risk.
This means that people with close family that have been diagnosed with breast cancer can have up to an 80% greater chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer.
That is why if you are at risk in this category, or even if you are just 40 and over you should never, be too busy or put off your yearly mammogram.
