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Celeste's Story

Name: Celeste
State: Texas
Date of Diagnosis: July 13, 2012
Age at Diagnosis: 50
Stage of Diagnosis: 3B
Time from "normal" mammogram to diagnosis: 5 months
How was cancer detected?: By ultrasound

Over the years, I’ve had my routine screening mammograms with stellar results. I've heard radiology technician's comment about my dense breasts, but I thought it was an interesting attribute like perky breasts. In December 2011, I had my routine screening mammogram. Just like always, my mammogram results showed nothing to worry about.

Fast forward five months. My left nipple starts looking a little flat and definitely different from my right one. I just had that mammogram with its good result, so I didn’t think this was serious. My local nurse practitioner ordered a mammogram. There wasn’t anything suspicious on the mammogram, but given my strange looking nipple, the radiologist ordered an ultrasound. He saw a few suspicious areas and biopsied them - stage IIIB invasive ductal carcinoma. The largest cancer was 7 cm. A 7cm tumor, seriously? And already spread to my lymph nodes?? What about the mammogram I had a few months ago?

I asked my physicians and was told. "Mammograms are like reading the clouds," one radiologist responded. "And you have really dense breast tissue." It was a shock to look back at that mammogram from just six months earlier. The radiologist's report read ‘Bilateral mammography shows extremely dense breasts throughout with occasional benign microcalcifications bilaterally. Breast pathology is not suggested. Recommendation: Annual screening mammography.'

Why didn’t I know that dense breast tissue is a huge, independent risk factor for breast cancer? I felt ignorant for not knowing it myself. Why had none of my previous physicians or mammogram reports ever mentioned it? Now I have to deal with the consequences. I started chemotherapy in August which will continue through December. I have a mastectomy in early 2013, followed by radiation.

Every chance I get I’m spreading the word and exposing the truth about the best-kept secret! Thank you Are You Dense.

You can read Dr. Celeste's science blog on dense tissue and her surprise discovery here.

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What is Dense Breast Tissue?

How Do I Know if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

What Do I Do if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

Are You Dense? Fact #1:
Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #2:
Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #3:
Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.
Are You Dense? Fact #4:
American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #5:
While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #6:
A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.
Are You Dense? Fact #7:
Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #8:
A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.
Are You Dense? Fact #9:
Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #10
There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.