New advice

On my way home from work last night, I got a text from Kurt about the new recommendations from the government about breast cancer screening. A federal task force is telling women not to get mammograms starting at age 40, that they should wait until age 50. Furthermore, a mammogram isn't needed every year, but every two years. Check it out here if you haven't heard about it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33974452/

When I got home and read about the new advice, I was appalled, but I tried to be objective. I read the facts. Beginning yearly mammograms at age 40 costs money, saves only one life in thousands, and leads to countless "scares" and unnecessary biopsies. I get it. I'm a practical person. I understand the financial issues with this. But I am also a woman, and a woman who has lost her mother to Breast Cancer. I think I'd rather have a "scare" than wait ten years and find out I have cancer and that's it's too late. What's wrong with being a little liberal when it comes to Breast Cancer screenings? Breast Cancer is the most common cancer in women. I think that's reason enough there. The thing that really got me upset was when the task force said that self exams do no good, that they are worthless. I have to disagree wholeheartedly on that one. I am not a doctor, but come on, anything we can do to catch it early should be done.

My mother was 48 when she was first diagnosed with Breast Cancer. While she only survived another 5 years before a second bout killed her, if she had waited until she was 50 to get a mammogram, she might not have had those extra years. Before her, my family had no history of Breast Cancer whatsoever, but the doctors said they thought her cancer was genetic. So how can they say that women without risk factors shouldn't be tested? We don't even know what all of the risk factors are. We know so little about cancer and what causes it that I'm not sure how they can be so sure of themselves. I know they did extensive testing and research, so I'm trying to see the "business" side of it, the scientific side. Saving one person out of thousands is not enough to support expensive testing. But what if that one person was me, or you, or your mother or sister? Why is that one life considered less important because it's only one?

I think it's important to listen to your body and to trust your doctor. If you disagree with your doctor or think something is wrong, get a second opinion. And please continue to do self-exams and get mammograms. I know it took a lot of guts for these scientists to come out and say what they did and I'm sure they believe it, but I don't. It's always better to be safe than sorry.