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Microcalcifications
Hello,
I had a mammogram in November of 2005 and it came back a class 4. I guess that means it is probably very suspicious. I have three microcalcifications on my left breast. I am having a stereotatic biopsy on December 19th. I know from reading in this forum that 80 perecent come back benign. I am really nervous, I am only 45. My two older sisters also went through the same procedure and everything worked out okay for them. I guess I am just pretty scared. Thank you for your help.
Terry
I had a mammogram in November of 2005 and it came back a class 4. I guess that means it is probably very suspicious. I have three microcalcifications on my left breast. I am having a stereotatic biopsy on December 19th. I know from reading in this forum that 80 perecent come back benign. I am really nervous, I am only 45. My two older sisters also went through the same procedure and everything worked out okay for them. I guess I am just pretty scared. Thank you for your help.
Terry
Hi Everyone.
Four years ago I was dignosed with DCIS. It was a terrible shock. I was 46. I guess the thing I really want to say is that everyone should read-up on the treatment and make a decision for themselves. I decided not to have radiation after my two surgeries-one to remove the DCIS and the second, to clear the margins. There are things that may not be clear when it comes to treatment. What I discovered thru the internet and my doctors was that radiation changes the breast tissue and can make it impossible or nearly so to have reconstructive surgery later if an aggressive cancer returns. Since DCIS may or may not become agressive and some women live with it their whole lives without problems, I was very comfortable doing the most important thing, surgery, but didn't want to overtreat something that has a lot of controversy attached to it. Apparently the medical community isn't quite sure of the best way to treat DCIS and so they take a shotgun approach and treat it like stage 1 breast cancer.
Please understand that this decision was the right one for me and certainly may not be the right one for you. Just please consider all of your options, weigh the facts and lastly, know that for yourself, you've chosen the right treatment path; one that you can live with. Ask your doctor to be honest with you about the side effects as sometimes they gloss over them. It's your body and breast and some of these other treatments carry lifelong effects with them.
Good luck to everyone. I know it's scary, but one day you will be sitting years away from this unsettling time.
Four years ago I was dignosed with DCIS. It was a terrible shock. I was 46. I guess the thing I really want to say is that everyone should read-up on the treatment and make a decision for themselves. I decided not to have radiation after my two surgeries-one to remove the DCIS and the second, to clear the margins. There are things that may not be clear when it comes to treatment. What I discovered thru the internet and my doctors was that radiation changes the breast tissue and can make it impossible or nearly so to have reconstructive surgery later if an aggressive cancer returns. Since DCIS may or may not become agressive and some women live with it their whole lives without problems, I was very comfortable doing the most important thing, surgery, but didn't want to overtreat something that has a lot of controversy attached to it. Apparently the medical community isn't quite sure of the best way to treat DCIS and so they take a shotgun approach and treat it like stage 1 breast cancer.
Please understand that this decision was the right one for me and certainly may not be the right one for you. Just please consider all of your options, weigh the facts and lastly, know that for yourself, you've chosen the right treatment path; one that you can live with. Ask your doctor to be honest with you about the side effects as sometimes they gloss over them. It's your body and breast and some of these other treatments carry lifelong effects with them.
Good luck to everyone. I know it's scary, but one day you will be sitting years away from this unsettling time.
Your surgeon is removing your calcifications? Mine are not clustered they are scattered so I was told to just leave them alone and we'll just ensure that they don't cluster (clusters are the scary pre-cancerous ones). They also told me they have never seen a case of scattered calcifications that move together, and that mine are probably caused from a breast-reduction surgery that I had 12 years ago. Ugh. If I would have known it caused that, I wouldn't have done it.
I think even though the "microcalsification shock" gets to all of us and the waiting is the worst thing I've ever experienced. I think we are all actually better off finding the micro's early, having them removed, getting early treatment and staying on top of the situation. Even if we are DCIS or level 4 these stages are apparently pre-cancer and manageable. Having this group to talk with is very helpful. Five years ago when I was told about my situation I couldn't find anyone who had ever heard of microcalsifications. My dear friend(53) who has never had micro's, never had a bad mammo and has been on the phone with me for hours while waiting for "my microcalsifications" findings,just recently had a lump "appear", and has been diagnosised with "a rare aggressive carcinoma". This stuff is nuts!
Hi,
Hope everyone is doing well. I spoke with my surgeon a week after my lumpectomy. There is some difference in the grade of the lumpectomy sample and the biopsy sample. My stereostatic was Grade III/III, my lumpectomy is II/III, so the surgeon wants to really get some good opinions from several folks. It could be that the biopsy area was grade III and that what was ever left for the lumpectomy is grade III. I think it probably makes treatment decisions a little different. I meet with my oncology team Feb 1. Wish it would all go away :)
Hope everyone is doing well. I spoke with my surgeon a week after my lumpectomy. There is some difference in the grade of the lumpectomy sample and the biopsy sample. My stereostatic was Grade III/III, my lumpectomy is II/III, so the surgeon wants to really get some good opinions from several folks. It could be that the biopsy area was grade III and that what was ever left for the lumpectomy is grade III. I think it probably makes treatment decisions a little different. I meet with my oncology team Feb 1. Wish it would all go away :)
Does anyone know anything about the link between microcalcifications and heart disease? I am 30 yrs. old, and recently had a mammogram (after detecting lumps in right breast), I was told I have scattered microcalcifications and to go back in a year for another check up...just to be safe they tell me. Turns out the lumpy tissue I was feeling was just that, alot of glandular fat. But, if I hadn't gone in for that, I would never have known about the calcifications. Recently I went to see a cardiologist and had a heart monitor and an echocardiogram for a rapid heartbeat and skips. My echo came back fantastic, with a normal study, but my monitor indicates I have sinus tachyardia. I am high-anxiety with occasionaly panic attacks (might be casuing the tachy). But, read in an article that there isa link between calcifications and heart disease. I am only 30, what's the risk? CAn anyone tell me anything?
It seems like these microcalcifications are a new thing. I've frankly never heard of them before. I stupidly waited seven years since my last mammo and this one last week shows multiple new microcalcs in the retroareolar area of my left breast...spot compressions in the morning. I'm terrified. I wonder, though, if since I've never had the CAD device mammo, that they're just now picking them up and they're really not new. I am a VERY anxious person and don't handle this waiting very well. Good luck to everyone.
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