By Marlene Cimons Special to The Washington Post Lenore Fusciello Baker won’t quickly forget that day in 2020 when she opened what she thought would be a routine letter from her radiology facility telling her that a recent screening mammogram had been fine. Instead, it said the test had found an “abnormality” and told her to return for more imaging. It was 10 days before she could get an appointment — 10 long days of anxiety when she could think of little else.
“I totally freaked out. I was sure I had breast cancer,” says Baker, 56, a yoga and Pilates teacher. “Will I need chemo? Surgery? Who will teach my classes? I put my life on hold and wouldn’t make any plans beyond the date of that appointment.
It really took me over.” Tense with fear, she brought her husband along for support. “I couldn’t sit there alone and have them tell me I have cancer,” she says.
Happily, the abnormality turned out to be a benign cyst. “The relief was enormous,” she says. Mammogram callbacks are common — about 10 out of every 100 women are told they need more imaging after an initial screening, according to the American College of Radiology — but can be scary, especially if you have to wait for an appointment.
The vast majority of the callbacks, however, turn out to be false alarms, according to the American Cancer Society. Fewer than 1 in 10 women who return for more imaging have cancer. Women should never ignore a callback, which usually involves more extensive pi.