As all of us who've had breast cancer will agree, Elizabeth Edwards' news hits us hard. I think it's important to say, once again, that a clear mammogram cannot be relied upon for women with dense breasts. Eighteen months ago I found a 5 cm. lump in my breast. I literally found it - there I was sitting at my dinner table, gesticulating, when my right hand went to my chest for emphasis and my fingertips felt the lump. Understand this - at no point did my lump EVER appear on a mammogram. And this was a big, honking one. Even when a metal thread was run through prior to a lumpectomy, the mammogram showed the metal thread but never the lump. Only ultrasound revealed the size and shape of it. My diagnosis of Stage III breast cancer followed, and I am now in remission after a grueling year of treatment.
If I had relied on mammograms to determine if I had breast cancer, God only knows what would have happened.
