Mammogram Looks Very Different

I'm 36 years old and think that there's a little black cloud following me around for the past couple of years. It has been one thing after another and it's getting really frustrating. Anyways...

Had my yearly mammogram on 2/14/2011 and I stupidly requested my images. Mostly because I wanted to take the mammo, apply false color and turn it into a piece of art, LOL. I was also curious. Now that curiosity has caused me stress.

My first mammo ever was in Aug of 2009 because I woke up one morning with an enormous mass (like the size of my fist) that had grown out of the blue. The mass was in my left breast and wasn't visible on mammo except for some microcalcifications. It showed on ultrasound as a weird cyst that had ruptured, abscessed and hemorrhaged into the surrounding tissue. They drained the entire thing and sent it all off to pathology and it came back benign.

They followed me closely with ultrasounds every three months until they were satisfied nothing was changing. Their theory is that I had a cyst, my dog stepped on it, it ruptured into my milk duct, which allowed bacteria to get in. Wasn't pleasant because they had me terrified that I had IBC.

Because of that, and my maternal grandmother having breast cancer a few years ago, my GP told me to come in once a year for mammo's to be safe. I actually ended up going about 1.5 years.

I pulled up the images of my mammo from 8/2009 and looked at the breast that had no issues, the weird thing was when I looked at the same breast from 2/2011, it had all these white spots in it scattered around. Those weren't there before. There's also a bright white oval shaped thing up by my armpit that REALLY stood out. That's new too.

I plan to call for the actual radiology report tomorrow (I only got a letter saying that they found no cancer) to see if these changes were noted and what they could possibly be.

Two questions I guess. Do you think it's even possible that they missed this bright white oval thingy in my armpit area or just decided it was perfectly normal. Second question, has anyone at my age had a normal looking mammo and then all kinds of calcifications show up the next year?

I lied, I have a 3rd question. Does the time of month affect the appearance of mammo's? The first mammo was on day 1 of my period, this mammo was exactly on ovulation. Last years mammo's the breasts weren't nearly so cloudy looking, this year they were really, really dense looking. Oh, it was a digital mammo, btw.

Thanks!

[japdip]

I'm still pondering the thought of Mammography films made into art.
Anyway .... unless you have studied Radiology I see no reason to have your films ... as a rule when you sign out films you need to reveal where you are taking the films; such as another institution or a Dr. for consultation. I believe that you should contact your Physician for an explanation of the report also .... we don't ordinarily understand the meaning of the terminology used since they aren't meant to be interpreted by the patient. When screening Mammograms are done there is always a form letter of some sort sent to the patient either advising additional testing, or stating a benign result. During the menstrual cycle there are changes in the breast tissue and it may well appear somewhat different on film but Radiologists are aware of what changes are of concern. I suppose that you are having all your films done at the same institution and if so they are always compared when read. You should also be aware that as we age our breasts tend to become more dense which is also quite evident on film.    Regards ....

[bypeep]

Thanks japdip.

All my hospital sends is a letter that reads: "We have found no evidence of cancer, however 10-15% of all breast cancers cannot be detected by mammography." I will call my doctor today and ask about that extremely bright pebble looking thing that stands out like a sore thumb. I'm sure now that there is no way the radiologist could have missed it. It is the brightest thing on the film.

I'm just not very trusting of doctors. It seems like every time something comes up with my health, and I'm sent from one doctor to another, they never have any of the information, and it makes me wonder if they're missing something. So, yes, I'm kind of obsessive about my health but I'd rather be extremely careful and catch something early than find out too late because of an oversight.

One of the ways I've found to counter this is to have a complete copy of all my medical testing in my own file that I bring with me to appointments. An example of this occurred over the summer. I had complained for years of having an arrhythmia and doctors wouldn't listen to me, wouldn't do proper testing, didn't tell me the results of any testing that they did do - kept sending me home with anti-anxiety medication and guessing that it was "probably SVT" or "stress."  It wasn't. It was ventricular tachycardia. This summer I finally pushed for further testing and I ended up being sent to two different cardiologists. When I arrived at the first one, he didn't even have a copy of my holter results or bloodwork,  but was willing to guess from looking at me and my age that it was "just SVT or A-fib." Luckily I had my records on hand and was able to give them to him to review.  

Same thing happened last week (same day as mammo) with my ultrasound. When my doctor called to give my result she told me everything was fine. Well, it wasn't. I had gone in complaining of a period that had lasted from Christmas until now and knife like cramping behind my pubic bone - that's just not normal for me. I pushed her with questions and *then* she looked at the actual report (but would have just hung up if I'd let her) and she told me that they had found ovarian cysts and a fibroid tumor. Well, the fibroid tumor explains my pain and bleeding because of its size and location (so at least I have a solid answer now) - but she was ready to dismiss me and not even tell me about the findings.I would have kept going in thinking something was terribly wrong, but knowledge of that fibroid solves things for me. So, now I worry that all doctors are this lax and with a family history of BC, I am uncomfortable with that.

Yes, mammograms as art. In false color the breast (at least mine) looks like the surface of the sun. Quite striking when done right. I originally had the idea in hopes that my friends would find this interesting and encourage them to take care of their own breasts. You know, take something unpleasant or stress-inducing and turn it around into something creative and positive. I'm a huge breast cancer supporter - my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage 1, no node involvement - several years ago - and I have just seen too many acquaintances (even very young ones) with the disease. I walk every year, I do donations through the store that I manage.