An MRI saved me
“An MRI saved my life.”
I heard that sentence for the first time when I was watching The Ellen Show in 2008. Christina Applegate was the guest that day talking about her breast cancer diagnosis.
So why was this statement sticking in my head? At that moment I had no idea, but four years later this would lead me to a decision that saved my life.
It was December 17, 2012, and I had my annual appointment with my breast surgeon, Dr. Barbara Krueger. Starting at the age of 32, I started seeing her every year for monitoring purposes due to fibroid tumors in both of my breasts.
I would get a mammogram and see her for an ultrasound; this was my fourth year of doing it. As she was taking the ultrasound pictures, something was different this time.
She was taking more pictures, and had a different look on her face. When I’m nervous, I talk, so that’s what I did…I talked, and talked and then talked some more.
I just thought if I talked enough, maybe just maybe, she wouldn’t be able to tell me anything bad. I know it doesn’t make sense, but that was my thought process.
She then started to compare the pictures from the year prior, “I would like you to get an MRI” she said. “WHAT? WHY??” I nervously replied. My heart was beating through my chest.
She assured me she was just being cautious, but thought it was a good idea to go ahead with the test.
There it was again, the statement that Christina Applegate said “An MRI saved my life” screaming in my head!
I took the test, something didn’t look right, so I was then sent for a biopsy which ultimately detected my breast cancer.
Without that MRI, this would have NEVER been found as early as it was. My mammogram which was taken a month and a half prior to the ultrasound was normal, so this MRI was imperative for me. Never in a million years did I think Christina Applegate’s statement would become so important to me.
Not only was my cancer found the same way hers was, but I was the exact same age she was when diagnosed.
I can’t stress enough how important MRIs are for early detection. I had no family history – zero – I shouldn’t have even been getting checked yearly, but I have a wonderful doctor who is extremely cautious and I’m so grateful to her and everyone at Advocate Medical Group.
So, an MRI saved MY life too!
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About the Author
Jeannine Canino Bieda has worked in the Options industry for the last 14 years and cannot imagine doing anything else; she enjoys all the craziness, the good, the bad & the ugly! She is a breast cancer survivor. She is married to the love of her life and does not have any children but hopefully that will change one day. She is a proud Southsider but lives in Evanston now because it’s where her husband is from; she learned quickly, you can take the girl out of the Southside but you can’t take the Southside out of the girl! She is highly addicted to reality shows & gossip magazines and is not ashamed of it.
An MRI saved my life also. I’m a 2x breast cancer survivor and the first time my cancer was found with CAD and then the 2nd time with MRI. I’m grateful that Advocate has all the tools to diagnois and treat patients. Tere
On the other hand lots of women are being told and treated for “breast cancer” when in fact it isn’t.. Sad to see this happening more and more often as imaging picks up things that might be cancer.. Many cancers in fact resolve on their own and anytime you see a woman in her 30’s getting this type of diagnosis you really need to get a second opinion..
Also very very few women die from breast cancer so just catching an early one doesn’t mean you would die from it.. This is the worst example of health care journalism
This happened to my wife 4 years ago. And as soon as our local doctor said that my wife needed an MRI I rushed over to the Labfinder.com website due to how fast it is to schedule medical tests and booked an appointment there. Now she’s doing fine and I am thankful for the advice for the MRI and the great work done at the lab. Thanks for this great post 🙂