recall mammogram-decided not to attend

Tilly, did you post because you wanted reassurance that you had made the right decision or were you looking for someone to talk you out of the decision?

At 70 I would be the same, my children are settled, grandchildren happy and I do not want any sort of surgery. However you are 50 and I think that changes things. Don’t think about wasting NHS resources, think more about it opening up choices for you. If anything is found you do not have to go ahead with surgery or medication, but you can make plans for what might lie ahead.

If you are clear you won’t have a ticking bomb in your mind always wondering if the cancer is lurking.

Grammaretto, apologies if I offended any genuine person who has or is struggling with health issues.

I have been having cancers for over 20 years and have had surgeries, various forms of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and, at 72, I think 'if it comes up again, I will just go quietly'
Then I look around me at my wonderful family and this beautiful world we live in and I think that I would hate to leave. Cancer will probably get me in the end....all things considered.....but as long as I can survive it I think I should probably give it a go. tillytrotternbp do think carefully about going for your recall mammogram, failing to do so could be disastrous for your darling family and you and the relief you will feel when it turns out to be nothing threatening will show you how much you love your life. Just Go.

I think despite what you say, you ARE concerned about it - why even put this post on here otherwise?

I would be dead now if I hadn't attended my mammo. I was 52.

Caught early, before spread through the lymphs, it can be very successfully treated. It can also be successfully treated if it has travelled through the lymphs but the treatment will be more complicated.

You sound as though you were reassured by the breast surgeon (she should not have reassured you completely without the mammo results but maybe you heard what you wanted to hear); but now you've received a recall your worst fears have made you bury your head in the sand and you are stubbornly wanting to believe it's nothing.

Mammo could've picked up a suspicious area. It may be nothing. If it's nothing, you will put your mind at rest completely. If it's something, treatments are very good these days and you will be doing your family a great service if you survive to be there for them.

Imagine how you will feel from now on having ignored the recall. Can you put it out of your mind or will it ruin your life as it niggles away with the 'what if's'. Surely it's better to know one way or the other? I'm sure your family would be urging you to attend.

Dragonfly please don't dwell on the negative posts on here, some of which were probably trying to scare poster into attending her mammo recall. We've spoken before on a thread and I'm still here to tell the tale 9 years on. Not sure how far you are now with treatment but as I said before, I hope it's the minimum to solve the problem.

As for the doubting Thomas's. It is a strange first question. However, if it's not a hoax, imagine how the poster is feeling being doubted as well as frightened. She's trying to brazen it out but the fact she's questioning it on here means she's not convinced. If it's a hoax, no harm done giving some advice anyway.

Of course you should go back. Sometimes the worry about something is worse than knowing. I have a saying ‘what a waste of a good worry’.

We all make decisions and take risks- whether to go to the doctor with a particular symptom or leave it a while longer, is the blood spotting important enough to cope with ordeal of colonoscopy (I have a condition where it mostly isn't) is the lump new? Smear test or not? Life seems like a bit of a lottery sometimes.
Only you can make the decision on this one. Perhaps ask more questions first.

If you are so certain you won't go why are you putting it up for discussion? Go, you know you should.

Well you are free to make that decision if you wish but these tests can also pick up other, easily dealt with, issues and I am not sure why you would not want to know.

I have had breast infections that required antibiotics and an encapsulated necrotic cyst that needed to be drained using a syringe. I always find mammograms extremely painful owing to nerve damage in my spine but I would rather know the situation than wonder and worry about what might be going on.

Myself, I would go.

I would attend if I were you or it will start to bother you. I worked in a Breast unit in a hospital for many years. It may just be that the radiographer didn’t get a full picture and wants to just check again. Even if you think it is hormonal, you should still attend just to make sure. There are too many women these days not attending for mammograms and smear tests and you owe it to yourself to be 100% sure. If there were a problem it can be caught early and dealt with, the alternative is not pleasant to contemplate if left.

Grandma70s there's a big difference between 50 (OP) and 79 - 29 years in fact! I think the OP would not be asking us for views if she was entirely sure. 50 is very young to be thinking of not having treatment. I had my first major abdominal operation at 56, have had 4 more and breast cancer, but am still here and leading a happy and reasonably active life 20 years later.

Hello Tilly. I think that our personal health decisions are our own and what one person would do another wouldn’t. It might be worth having a chat with your GP but whatever decision you make will be right for you. I would just say however that any mammogram is only normal at the time it is taken so you may feel advantaged by having another. Modern healthcare does put the onus on us to make decisions. Whatever you decide good luck.

I had a routine mammogram just over two years ago, got a recall letter which frightened the life out of me - went for the appointment and after more tests it was just a cyst which they drained the same day. The relief was amazing. I don't have to go back until the normal time period (end of this year).

Tilly
So, you were more than willing to use the Dr's time, the radiologist's time, the admin staff's time, to say nothing of the enormous costs involved, and now have decided that you obviously know better than any of the medical professionals who have dealt with you so far!
When and where did you receive your medical degree?
Selfish to the core!

In my 30/40’s I suffered from breast cysts which had to be aspirated at the hospital. They were so frequent I was given a card so I didn’t have to see my doctor first - just arrive and get treated. When the 2 year mammogram programme kicked in the mobile unit always checked the X-ray there and then and then did it again as “it there was something wrong with the machine” and I ended up having a further mammogram at hospital and it was alway clear. When I was in my 60’s I had the same thing again but this time two nurses and a consultant called me in with very grave faces and said something was really wrong. Finally the consultant said “I actually believe it’s just breast tissue” and let me go. The nurses apologised for frightening me! At the next mammogram 2 years later I DIDN’T get asked to wait so it could be done again and DIDN'T get a recall. This bothered me as they had never been clear so I rang up. I was told “it does happen sometimes, and there are no irregularities”. So far,8 years on I have been clear. Now I’m over the age for a check, but I call them and book in - just in case! Please do go - get it checked. You owe yourself and your family.

It's your choice Tillytrotter but I think it's better make sure that things are all right. It may well be hormonal but it might not be and it's best to be on the safe side. It could be that they simply couldn't see what they they were looking for clearly and need a different machine with a better definition. Why not take advantage of our wonderful NHS?
If you really don't want to go then at least ring them up to cancel - don't simply not turn up as your appointment can be given to someone else.

I had a lump and lymph glands removed in 2010 and radiation treatment. Since then I've watched my grandson, now 12, grow up and have a 2 and 3 year old grandchild too. I love seeing them and am so glad I didn't die and miss them.

I'm 73 and they don't do automatic mammograms now. I no longer have annual checks since 18 months or so agao but asked the department today to let me have a mammorgram as it's nearly 3 years since the last.

The operation and treatment were not so bad. They told me the odds of surviving 5 years or more depending on which treatment I had. We ruled out chemo as that only added 2%. I am glad as that is unpleasant and I was dreading it.

If you do turn out to need treatment it might not be bad and you don't know now what wonderful things you will miss if it turns out you guessed wrong and do have cancer, or it turns out you could have had a small treatment and then it will need a big one.

Worst case scenario - you don’t want further tests which is understandable BUT would you not want treatment if anything needed doing. If your answer is no you wouldn’t that’s fine but if you would why run the risk of needing far more extensive treatment from a delayed diagnosis?

I don’t under why people don’t keep their appointments for preventative Illness. People in some countries walk for days for the most basic of health care and you are turning it down.
If you want to save the NHS money. Go to the appointment as it’s a lot cheaper than the treatment you may need if further down the line you are illiterate a no brainer unless you are putting it off because you are scared. Then if so go and catch anything quickly

MissA your friend should get a gynae check up. I suffered from flooding for a couple of years in my mid thirties. With 3 small children I put it off until it got so bad I couldn't leave the house for 2 days due to having to lug a bath towel around between my legs and intense migraine that coincided with them for some reason. I had to sleep on a towel and waddle to the toilet in the morning. Mine turned out to be a fibroid and endometriosis. It wouldn't have gone away. I opted for a hysterectomy as I'd finished having my family and had suffered from endometriosis previously which was burnt off initially.

It could be the dying throes of your friends' periods but it could be something else easily fixable. Not necessarily cancer. So she could be living with it unnecessarily. Her health her decision of course, so probably best not to push her unless she asks for your opinion.

Tilly - if you are still reading, please reconsider, you are only 50, fifty that is not an age where you should even consider taking chances
for those who need them, wishing you all full and speedy recoveries

That is not how the process works in our area at least tillytnbp

This is the first time I have posted. Please reconsider your decision. My tumour could not be felt and only showed on a mammogram. Recalls can be for many reasons for example blurry images but having it checked will give reassurance or treatment. It is of course your decision. A previous poster mentioned the word mutilated. Please be very careful using words like this. You are of course entitled to your view but please remember there are many like me who in my case have one boob (or none) like to think of ourselves as not so much mutilated but alive and kicking!

You may end up costing the NHS a lot more if you don't go now and get it sorted