Tag: healthcare

New Mammogram Regulation

Yesterday, it was all over the news that healthcare providers will soon be required to notify women whether or not they have dense breast tissue when they perform a mammogram. Why is this important?

First let’s talk about breast tissue in general. Overall, there are three different types of breast tissue:

  • Glandular. This is the tissue and ducts responsible for producing milk.
  • Connective. This is fibrous tissue that keeps ducts and glands in place.
  • Fatty. Yes – we carry fat in our breasts.

If you have a lot of glandular and connective tissue and not a lot of fatty tissue, you are considered to have dense breast tissue. But the tricky thing is that no matter what you weigh or what cup size you are, only a mammogram can determine just how dense your breast tissue is.

About half of all childbearing age women have dense breast tissue – but it changes over time. As you age, your breast tissue generally gets less dense due to estrogen levels falling off. So again – the question is – why do you need to know if you have dense breast tissue?

The two big reasons you need to know about your breast tissue are that high density has been linked to increased chances for breast cancer and the density can make finding breast cancer early harder because cancer and the fibers in your breast both show white on a mammogram.

Examples of types of breast tissue density – you can see how cancer could easily be hidden as the tissue density increases.

My mom died of cancer that started as breast cancer so statistically, I’m at a higher risk of getting breast cancer. As a result, I’ve always been very good about getting my screenings regularly. Before I went through menopause, my breast tissue was very dense and the routine for me went something like this: go get a mammogram, get a call from my doctor telling me that the mammogram was inconclusive and they’d like me to come in for an ultrasound, go in for the ultrasound, results were negative for breast cancer. I always wanted to cut to the chase and just get the ultrasound, but that’s not protocol!

Because of my mother’s history and the fact that a lot of my family is in the healthcare profession, I knew to ask questions and find out about the implications around the density of my tissue. I’ve also been blessed with having really good OBGYNs over the course of my life who have taken the time to educate me. I’m REALLY glad that more women will be getting this kind of information so they can make the best choices for their health.

Want to learn more? Check out these links:

Family Business?

On this day in 1901, Queen Victoria died after 63 years on the British throne – which was her family business. She had an amazing life – if you want to know more about her, check out this link: https://www.britannica.com/video/179999/Overview-Victoria-reign

Seeing this made me think about family businesses. My Dad was the first member of his family to go to college and he chose to become a pharmacist. His oldest nephew followed him into pharmacy and even worked at the same hospital with him. That nephew had 3 children – one of which is a PharmD, one is an engineer at Eli Lilly and the last is a doctor. Those aren’t my only healthcare connections – I had an aunt that was an RN and another cousin that taught medical imaging. So in my family, healthcare is kind of the family business.

I always wonder what it’s like to have a parent that has a business that they pass on to their children. I wonder what that pressure must be like for both the parent and the child. Dad never really tried to get me or my brother to think about pharmacy but I did get a lot of teasing about finally joining the family business when I got my job at Walgreens. 

I’ve been targeting healthcare as one of my priority categories as I look for my next role. Keep your fingers crossed for me OK? More applications went in this morning!