time again to squeeze your lemons for signs of breast cancer...
i've been very concerned about a hot, painful lumpiness growing in my remaining breast. it is 2 years since my diagnosis + grim prognosis that i'd likely recur within 2 years. i had an exam last thursday with my oncologist + she said it feels normal.
i read about breast thermography in a booklet from whole foods market called pink and green (alternative breast cancer news). it says thermography is nearly flawless detection years earlier than mammograms, there's no radiation or painful compression, so teenagers can have them (which interests me for my daughter). a thermogram is pictures with an infrared camera every so often to compare heat patterns that are supposed to be unique to each person. i'm very interested in thermography for myself, my daughter + everyone. my large lemon sized tumor was not visible on mammograms, so i assumed it was a plugged milk duct from breastfeeding. meanwhile, the cancer was growing rapidly + spreading to the lymph nodes. now that i've had an excellent response to chemotherapy + i'm recovering from a mastectomy + lymphedema from lymph node dissection, i'm on "high surveillance" for recurrence, which is not comforting, because it consists of mammograms + manual exams, backed up by ultrasounds + MRIs. i remember the noticeable heat i felt from the tumor + it's vascular blood supply it had grown to feed itself, so i'm very interested in more information about thermograms. i showed the article to my oncologist thursday + told her i wanted to be referred, since she knows i think mammograms are a waste of time for me, + don't want their additional radiation + painful compression, but insurance forces me to get them, before i can also get an ultrasound + MRI (the ultrasound shows whether masses are solid (cancer) or liquid (benign) + the MRI shows detailed pictures, as opposed to mammograms that look like black storm clouds + may have white spots of calcification that indicate tumors. not all tumors are calcified (like mine), so mammograms aren't effective for everyone, but all tumors grow their own veins to feed themselves, so thermograms are for everyone. i'm going to look into this more though, because it's not listed on breastcancer.org or memorial sloan-kettering cancer hospital, 2 trusted resources.
komen.org says "Thermography was used as a screening and diagnostic tool until the 1980’s, when mammography was shown to be more accurate [25]. The test uses infrared light emissions to measure temperature variations on the surface of the breast. Abnormal temperature patterns can signal a problem in the breast. However, many benign conditions also cause abnormal heat patterns, and thermography cannot distinguish between those patterns that are non-cancerous and those that are of concern [25]. Additionally, because thermography measures heat at the surface of the breast, it is not good at detecting cancers deeper within the breast tissue. Although future improvements on this technology may make it a useful tool for staging disease or confirming diagnosis, thermography has limited ability as a screening technique [25,52]."(maybe the technology has advanced)
also at komen.org are breast cancer awareness videos by cynthia nixon who plays miranda in Sex and the City on tv + Sex and the City: The Movie. i'm sad + happy to say that cynthia is a breast cancer survivor + so is her mother. to celebrate their recovery + the launch of cynthia's new movie, she would like mod*mom readers to enter to win a copy of the Sex and the City: the Movie book.
mod*mom giveaway:: 5 Sex and the City: The Movie books
watch cynthia's breast cancer messages at komen.org + tell me in the comments something you liked or learned. include your email address + url, before midnight, monday july 7
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