Dear Carol & Jan,

I also recently had a mammogram.  I scheduled it at the hospital I work at.
For that, I am very thankful.  At our hospital, they give you your results
within two hours.  I had a radiologist and a digitalized computer reading on
the spot.  The radiologist wanted to speak with me.  He told me that I had
new calcifications that looked suspicious.  He even paged the surgeon and
walked me down to his office.  The surgeon looked at my films and they set
me up for a mammotome biopsy for later in the week. I had the biopsy in
mammography.  You lie on a table where there is a hole through which your
breast hangs down.  They numb your breast with anesthetic and use a hollow
needle.  They take several samples and you can hear the whirring of the
knife as it goes through.  (I also felt it--OUCH!)  Then, they take more
pictures--another mammogram when they're all done.  My breast was sore and
bruised.  I also had a hematoma that was pretty painful to the touch.

Well, to make a long story short, they found a small cancerous lesion--3
millimeters!  I then was set up for a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy.
That was eight days ago.  Thankfully, there were no cancer cells in the
tissue they removed and nothing in the lymph nodes they removed.   The
pathology report had that they had probably removed everything with the
biopsy.  The surgeon said I had a great report--the cells were both estrogen
and progesterone positive!  I will probably only need to follow up with
radiation.  I have an appointment with the oncologist next week.

To relate this all to breastfeeding, it would seem that I should have the
odds in my favor.  I had my first two babies before the age of 23.  With
four children, I have 13 years of breastfeeding, yet my genes prevailed and
I developed breast cancer.  Thankfully, because of my mother having had
breast cancer, I vowed I would make sure I took care of myself and have
regular mammograms.  I never took for granted that breastfeeding would
protect me, (even though I had hoped it would.)

Please don't put off having a mammogram.  I know that having mine saved my
life!

Best to all,

Connie Chiavario, IBCLC, RLC
Rush Copley Medical Center
Aurora, IL

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