Living An "Interesting" Life with Heterogeneously Dense Breasts - LOL

It's two days in a row that I'm skipping the treadmill. Yesterday was because of my doctor appointment and the schedule that required. Today I was just lazy - sometimes I have to allow myself those little luxuries. I'll be back on the treadmill on Monday, but I guess, subconsciously, I needed a bit of time off. 

I love my treadmill, but today I'm COLD, and I'm allowing 
myself a day of lazy morning before heading out to the 
shop for a day's work. I've been repairing broken beadwork 
for the past few days. At least that's enjoyable, as opposed to 
other tasks (like sweeping and general cleanup) LOL. 

My doctor appointment went VERY well. I adore my cancer doctor - he's absolutely marvelous. It was time for a one-year checkup - it's hard to believe it's been a year since my initial diagnosis, but the calendar doesn't lie. I asked him about getting annual MRI exams since my breast tissue is very dense. Apparently my breasts come in at a Stage 3 of the four levels, and usually only Stage 4 level is covered by insurance for annual exams. It's a matter of phrasing. 

This is my cancer Doc - Doctor Domingo Perez. He's got a 
couple of short YouTube videos out there if you're interested 
in why I like this guy so much. His care for patients comes 
through the videos beautifully. I totally trust him to be on 
my side in this. 

Here's what Google says about it: The four levels of breast density, classified by radiologists using the BI-RADS system, describe the ratio of fatty tissue (dark) to dense fibroglandular tissue (white) on a mammogram, ranging from A: Almost Entirely Fatty to B: Scattered Areas of Fibroglandular Density, C: Heterogeneously Dense, and D: Extremely Dense, with higher densities potentially making cancers harder to spot and increasing risk. 

I have Grade C on my mammograms. If I had D, an annual 
MRI would automatically be recommended and covered by 
insurance. I have C, though, and so we'll have more hoops 
to jump through to get any MRI recommendations and 
procedures covered by my health insurance. We'll work on that though. 

So, Doc Perez is going to see if it's possible to adjust things to allow an annual MRI exam. He totally understands my desire. As I told him - "A friend's mother just went through breast cancer and her cancer was 2mm large. My own, as you know, was 10mm. That's a huge difference, and possibly could have been found earlier if I was able to get a mammogram that didn't come through with "Heteogeneously Dense" tagging. According to Doc, if my mammograms came through as "Extremely Dense", an annual MRI would be recommended and covered by insurance automatically. It's all a matter of getting the insurance to cover the procedure. MRI exams are VERY costly. 

So, we're going to see what we can do about this. He agrees with me and understands my frustration with the whole business. Meanwhile, I have a shop that needs serious work to be ready for our clearance sale which is upcoming almost too soon for all of the work we have to do. There's nothing like living an "interesting" life - LOL. *hugs* to all and have a wonderful weekend, I'll be back on Monday.