She exercised regularly, knew her daily calorie intake, counted fat grams and could recite her cholesterol statistics. But when during a routine mammogram Paget's doctor discovered what he felt certain was a benign lump, she feared the worst. I had no idea where to turn. That need is well documented, according to Judy Perotti, director of patient services for Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization.
Experts estimate more than one million breast biopsies are performed each year.
What isn't so well known is the fact that for nearly 800,000 of these women the results are benign. Of the 300,000 hotline calls answered by trained counselors last year, only 56 percent actually were from diagnosed breast cancer patients. The remainder of the callers are concerned family members and friends seeking information and support, or women who are symptomatic and may have just learned of an initial abnormality on their mammogram or of the need for a biopsy. Some simply want information on cancer risk or advice on mammogram frequency and breast self-examination. For Paget and her family, the five anxiety-ridden days between first detection of her breast lump and learning final biopsy results were long and tense.