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NEW YORK, NY /
New York Daily News / November 22, 2009
Background
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force,
started what it thought would be a straightforward job: gathering the newest science and asking about the benefits and risks of breast cancer screening, the best time to start and how often women should be screened. The group ended up recommending that most women forgo routine mammograms in their 40s and test every other year instead of every year. The response has been swift and angry.
Breast cancer survivor:
'If I had listened to new mammogram guidelines, I'd be dead at age 48'
By Linda Tolkin, Special to the News
If I had listened to the advice of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, I would be dead. Had I not learned how to check for warning signs, and had I not paid attention to my body, I would not have learned at the age of 48 that I was afflicted with Stage 3 breast cancer.
Photo: Pokress for News
I am among the thousands of women every year who discover between the ages of 40 and 49 that we have breast cancer.
We find out after we undergo mammograms.
We find out after we examine ourselves for lumps that may signal the presence of a malignancy.
And we are the women who would go without both of these routine screenings under the task force's proposed guidelines.
I know what that would have meant to my life. It would have been over. Had I not learned how to check for warning signs, and had I not paid attention to my body, I would not have learned at the age of 48 that I was afflicted with Stage 3 breast cancer.
And every day that passed without treatment would have brought me that much closer to death. As it is, I have survived only through aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, along with a double mastectomy.
I began having yearly mammograms at the age of 40 as my doctors suggested, as virtually all health authorities, including the same task force, had recommended. These tests and self-examinations became routine, although there is no history of breast cancer in my family.
In January 2007, my regular mammogram with sonogram detected nothing. Four months later, I felt a lump. A second mammo and a biopsy confirmed not only that I had cancer, but that it had progressed to an advanced stage.
My family and I faced the diagnosis together. I had been happily married to my husband, David, for 23 years and had four children - 17-year-old Liza, 12-year-old twins Elliot and Miles, and 10-year-old Jeremiah.
My tall, red-headed husband had an impressive career as a financial planner. I occasionally taught jewelry and model-making at my children's schools. There was mah-jongg on Monday nights. Whether we were playing Monopoly with Barbra Streisand blasting, watching every episode of "24" or throwing around a football, we were our own team.
Then I became a patient of Dr. Shanu Modi at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
"She is the most wonderful person I wish I never met," my husband said at the time.
David went to every appointment with me, and each one of our kids came to at least one treatment. The pain from the radiation treatments made my bones ache. My doctor ordered a scan that confirmed I had cancer in my other breast. That led to my second mastectomy, followed by chemo and radiation.
I'm approaching the end of my treatment now, grateful for the recommendations that were put in place to save a life ... my life.
Since the task force initially recommended testing and self-examination beginning at age 40, death rates have dropped by 30%, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports.
That's why the new guidelines make no sense to me.
I worry that my daughter's friends will listen to the task force and not begin having mammograms until they are 50. I worry they will never do a breast self-exam.
This could have dire consequences. I don't understand the downside of doing self-examinations since early detection is the key to survival. It is especially upsetting because I fear the panel is motivated by the insurance companies and the government, which seem only to be trying to save money. I think it's more important to be saving lives.
Since my diagnosis, I have cried tears of joy as I watched my youngest son graduate from elementary school, my twins graduate from middle school and my daughter graduate from high school.
We sailed in Montauk, fished in the Adirondacks and spent countless nights in New York enjoying the city we love so much. My hair is growing in, albeit curly now. I continue to see Dr. Modi every six months and she closely monitors my care.
I am so thankful that I had my annual screenings and did my self-exams. They have given me more precious time to spend with my family. I think I deserve that. So does every other woman. [
rc]
Linda Tolkin lives in Jericho, Long Island.
© Copyright 2009 NYDailyNews.com
I am among the thousands of women every year who discover between the ages of 40 and 49 that we have breast cancer.
We find out after we undergo mammograms.
We find out after we examine ourselves for lumps that may signal the presence of a malignancy.
And we are the women who would go without both of these routine screenings under the task force's proposed guidelines.
I know what that would have meant to my life. It would have been over. Had I not learned how to check for warning signs, and had I not paid attention to my body, I would not have learned at the age of 48 that I was afflicted with Stage 3 breast cancer.
And every day that passed without treatment would have brought me that much closer to death. As it is, I have survived only through aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, along with a double mastectomy.
I began having yearly mammograms at the age of 40 as my doctors suggested, as virtually all health authorities, including the same task force, had recommended. These tests and self-examinations became routine, although there is no history of breast cancer in my family.
In January 2007, my regular mammogram with sonogram detected nothing. Four months later, I felt a lump. A second mammo and a biopsy confirmed not only that I had cancer, but that it had progressed to an advanced stage.
My family and I faced the diagnosis together. I had been happily married to my husband, David, for 23 years and had four children - 17-year-old Liza, 12-year-old twins Elliot and Miles, and 10-year-old Jeremiah.
My tall, red-headed husband had an impressive career as a financial planner. I occasionally taught jewelry and model-making at my children's schools. There was mah-jongg on Monday nights. Whether we were playing Monopoly with Barbra Streisand blasting, watching every episode of "24" or throwing around a football, we were our own team.
Then I became a patient of Dr. Shanu Modi at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
"She is the most wonderful person I wish I never met," my husband said at the time.
David went to every appointment with me, and each one of our kids came to at least one treatment. The pain from the radiation treatments made my bones ache. My doctor ordered a scan that confirmed I had cancer in my other breast. That led to my second mastectomy, followed by chemo and radiation.
I'm approaching the end of my treatment now, grateful for the recommendations that were put in place to save a life ... my life.
Since the task force initially recommended testing and self-examination beginning at age 40, death rates have dropped by 30%, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports.
That's why the new guidelines make no sense to me.
I worry that my daughter's friends will listen to the task force and not begin having mammograms until they are 50. I worry they will never do a breast self-exam.
This could have dire consequences. I don't understand the downside of doing self-examinations since early detection is the key to survival. It is especially upsetting because I fear the panel is motivated by the insurance companies and the government, which seem only to be trying to save money. I think it's more important to be saving lives.
Since my diagnosis, I have cried tears of joy as I watched my youngest son graduate from elementary school, my twins graduate from middle school and my daughter graduate from high school.
We sailed in Montauk, fished in the Adirondacks and spent countless nights in New York enjoying the city we love so much. My hair is growing in, albeit curly now. I continue to see Dr. Modi every six months and she closely monitors my care.
I am so thankful that I had my annual screenings and did my self-exams. They have given me more precious time to spend with my family. I think I deserve that. So does every other woman. [rc]
Linda Tolkin lives in Jericho, Long Island.
© Copyright 2009 NYDailyNews.com
