Sherri Dmyterko: Regular mammograms are every women's secret weapon against breast cancer. This five minutes screening is considered by most medical professionals, as the most powerful way to catch early breast cancer and save life.
Dr. Gary Levine: Approximately, 180,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year of those approximately 40,000 will die of the disease.
Sherri Dmyterko: But doctors remind us that, getting breast cancer doesn't have to be a death sentence. That is, if you catch it early, and the best way to catch it early is to have regular mammograms.
Dr. Gary Levine: In the Latina population, the incidents of breast cancer is actually slightly lower than the general population. However, the prognosis or how the patients deal with the disease is slightly worst than the overall general population. And the reason for that is that the time of diagnosis, this age at which the patient has been diagnosed is slightly later in Hispanic women and they tend to do worse with the disease because of that.
Sherri Dmyterko: He is saying, many Latina women are dying unnecessarily because too many don't get regular mammograms.
Josephine Urbina: One other reasons why -- for many reasons why Latino women don't get their screening done on time, or let them just go by the way side would be because they always tend to put their families first. Their children comes first, the rent comes first, the grocery bill comes first before themselves. I think we need to as Latino women remember to put ourselves first because we don't take care of ourselves and we won't be there for our family in the days to come.
Sherri Dmyterko: Doctors are trying to get the message out. Your best insurance is a mammogram.
Dr. Gary Levine: A mammogram is a special X-ray of the breast. And the X-ray is designed specifically to evaluate the breast cancer. Mammography is one tool that we use but it's still the goal standard for the early detaching of breast cancer.
Monica Olmos: I wasn't quite sure, I didn't have. I didn't experienced mammogram, and no one had ever talked to me about a mammogram, and what to expect. Turns out, it was a basic simple procedure. It's a matter of three minutes, they can get it completed and done. And I didn't feel much pain.
Sherri Dmyterko: You don't need to prepare for a mammogram. You can eat normally and take medication. Some doctors will tell you to take a pain killer before your exams to help minimize any discomfort, and you will be given some instructions.
Dr. Gary Levine: So the day the mammogram patient needs to be aware that they can't use any perfume, powder or deodorant, as this may complicate the imaging by causing an artifact on the film, otherwise no other preparation is needed.
Sherri Dmyterko: Once checked in, you'll undress from the waist up and wear a special robe. A mammography technologist will perform your mammogram by positioning your breast between two firm surfaces that compress or basically squish your breast as flat as possible, to take good X-ray picture.
Dr. Gary Levine: Two views of each breast are obtained at a minimum. Those images are shown to the radiologist and a decision is made whether any additional imaging needs to be done. The procedure takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. And generally, the position will get the result within the next 24-48 hours.
Sherri Dmyterko: Most abnormalities found during the mammogram are not breast cancer. But for the hundreds of thousands of women a year who hear the words, you have breast cancer. Studies have shown a mammogram picking up breast cancer early, combined with breast cancer therapies are the reasons more and more women are surviving breast cancer. Just ask Monica Olmos. She had her first mammogram when she found a painful lump in her breast. Doctors first removed the lump, and ultimately her entire breast.
Monica Olmos: I didn't read much about what a mastectomy involved but at that point I told them without hesitation, do what you must to save my life. Take what you need to do and just save my life. And so the subsequent surgery they occurred was the mastectomy.
Sherri Dmyterko: Monica's prayers along with the year-and-a-half of chemotherapy and radiation therapy paid off. She has been cancer free for more than six years.
Monica Olmos: Sooner or earlier you find it, the best results but mammogram is by far what I scream up to women, get a mammogram. You feel lump, it goes abnormal, it doesn't feel like your body, you notice some changing or little minor change, get a mammogram. Even if there is no history in your family.
Sherri Dmyterko: Experts have different recommendations about how often you should have the mammogram.
Some doctors will say, you should get a screening mammography every year beginning at age 40. Others will say, you don't need yearly screenings until you are 50. And some doctors will recommend a baseline screening around the age of 35 to have images of your healthy breast to compare changes later.
If you have a family history of breast cancer or other risk factors, talk to your doctor about when you should start scheduling a yearly screening. And as good as mammograms are they can still miss 15-20% of breast cancers.
So here is the key, do monthly self breast exams to see if there are any changes in your breast, starting in your early 20. If you notice a lump, pain, dimpling of the skin, a change in the shape of your nipple, a blood stained discharge, or swelling or lump in your armpit, see your doctor right away.
Now don't let cost be the reason you don't get your breast screened. Most insurance companies covers the cost of mammograms as does Medicare. But there are options for women who don't have insurance and can't afford one.
Josephine Urbina: If you can't afford a mammogram, there are organizations out there that can help a woman with the funds necessary to get a mammogram done and places like that or like the Susan G. Komen Foundation, that's one of the principle places not only in California, but as well as on international level.
Sherri Dmyterko: To find out how to get a low cost or free mammogram, or to find a certified radiology center in your area call the Susan G. Komen for the cures breast care helpline, or the National Cancer Institute. You can also ask your doctor a local health department for referrals.
For more information, click on the Resources tab on SaberHacer. Don't wait to take this life saving screening. You owe it to yourself and your family.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services