“I want to leave. I don’t mind dying. I want you to stop,” were my continued pleas. But the radiologist wouldn’t stop. He coldly went on, subjecting me to an hour and a half or torture and 26 mammograms for nothing.
In a quest to find microscopic calcifications by hook and by crook , a radiologist subjected me to excruciating pain. and over radiation from 26 mammograms. He put me through an hour and a half of torture, disregarded my please to leave and was completely oblivious and lacked knowledge about the risks that mammograms pose to women.
My breast was squeezed unmercifully, my nipple pressed flat between the technician’s fingers, and my breast received three times the radiation one receives in a year. All in a quest to find microscopic calcifications that were just that – calcium.
I cried and begged to let me leave but he wouldn’t yield You see, I had an IV in my left arm and a 4-inch tube in my right breast. I couldn’t just get up and go.
Every time a mammogram was taken, everybody in the room ran behind a divider. I pointed out that I am the one to receive the radiation. He said it was nothing. But it wasn’t nothing,
The first day after the procedure, I developed a burn on my chest. A dermatologist confirmed it was radiation burn. Then mysterious black and blue marks appeared about 3 weeks after the biopsy.
I began to research mammograms and radiation and was horrified. The amount of radiation I received was 3 times the amount of radiation one receives naturally in a year. It will take a year and 4 months for the radiation in my body to dissipate. Who knows what damage it would cause during that time.
Following is a sample of what I came across:
American College of Radiology: “There is always a chance of cancer from excessive exposure to radiation.”
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)” “Most important harms associated with early detection of breast cancer through mammographic screening are false positive results, over-diagnosis, and possibly radiation-induced cancer. ”
“The estimate of the cumulative risk for organized programs is about 20% for a woman who had 10 screens between the ages of 50 and 70 years. ”
Dr. Samuel Epstein, one of the world’s top cancer experts: “The premenopausal breast is highly sensitive to radiation, each 1 rad exposure increasing breast cancer risk by about 1 percent, with a cumulative 10 percent increased risk for each breast over a decade’s screening.”
Other recent radiobiological studies have provided compelling evidence that the low energy X-rays as used in mammography are approximately four times – but possibly as much as six times – more effective in causing mutational damage than higher energy X-rays.
I found an attorney who will take the case Pro Bono, but we need funds for research and experts.
I hope you will see this cause worthy enough to donate. It should be a warning to every woman – beware of mammograms.
