I'm 20 years old so why am I so concerned about getting a mammogram?

Mammograms do not work in all cases. Everyone said breast cancer is easy to cure as long as you catch it early. Most people will say as long as you get your yearly mammograms you can catch it early. Well, mammograms are not accurate. There are a bunch of cases of false negatives. Which is scary to think about. This past year I have personally dealt with 2 cases of false negative mammograms.

My mom and aunt have been getting their yearly mammograms ever since they were 30. They started early because their mother was diagnosed with early breast cancer. In November 2015, my mom felt something odd in her breast. Her mammogram was negative so she thought it was a pulled muscle. Going to her yearly OBGYN appointment in December the doctor felt her breast and called for an emergency appointment with a oncologist.

She then found out the next day she had cancer. Then her twin sister obviously went in to be checked because cancer is genetic. She had it too, and her mammograms all came back clear too. It's now early January and my mom and her twin sister have cancer. Cancer that could have been there for God knows how long. A tumor about the size of a ping pong ball was not picked up on a mammogram. It was more than just one; she had smaller cancer cells spread throughout. All that cancer in one breast, yet a mammogram could not pick it up. A contrast MRI did, finally.

I'm 20 years old and I'm already concerned about mammograms. I'm already thinking about a double micestimy just to be completely healed just in case. Thinking about how much money I'll have to spend on my contrast MRI because insurance will only cover yearly mammograms.

Mammograms do work in some cases and still should be part of a women's yearly routine. Unfortunately, us women need to be extra careful even with those yearly check ups something still could be wrong.