Sunday, January 5, 2025

Microcalcifications weren’t going to kill me. The process of diagnosing their cause was still stressful.

My memory of breast biopsies in 2001 and 2006 is foggy. Any anxiety must have been wiped out by hearing “benign.” 


This time I tried to tamp down anxiety with knowledge. When a screening mammogram results in a callback for which you have to wait three weeks, and then the diagnostic mammogram results in a biopsy appointment for which you have to wait another four weeks, there’s plenty of time to research the situation.


Sharing what I learned may reduce the stress of women headed for biopsies because they, like me, have suspicious-looking microcalcifications. It calmed me somewhat beforehand to know that whatever the biopsy finding (it was benign), microcalcifications are not going to kill me.