6 ms·

Xeni Jardin Tweets Breast-Cancer Diagnosis

46 points by molecule 15y ago

michaelschade 15y ago
For those interested in seeing all of her tweets, I've put them up on Storify here to make them easier to read through in order: http://storify.com/michaelschade/myfirstmammo-at-xeni http://storify.com/michaelschade/myfirstmammo-at-xeni
- acangiano 15y ago
  It's really sad to see the "game" and funny tweets suddenly transform into the somber, "I have breast cancer". I sincerely hope she'll beat it. Wikipedia has interesting details in regards to the controversy surrounding mammograms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammography
Anechoic 15y ago
I've known that women often complain about how uncomfortable mammograms are, but looking at the picture of the machine Xeni tweeted made me realize for the first time how medieval the procedure actually is. I've seen pics of women going through the mammograms, but it's always been from behind-the-shoulder. This link has a NSFW pic of the procedure for those (like me) who didn't actually know how the procedure went: http://cancer.osu.edu/patientsandvisitors/cancerinfo/cancertypes/breast/about/pregnancy/pages/index.aspx http://cancer.osu.edu/patientsandvisitors/cancerinfo/cancert... There's got to be a better way, I can see why some women might be reluctant to have one. Stay strong Xeni.
- Sukotto 15y ago
  There's got to be a better way According to this TED talk from Dec 2010, there is: http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_rhodes.html http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_rhodes.html Deborah Rhodes: A tool that finds 3x more breast tumors, and why it's not available to you Working with a team of physicists, Dr. Deborah Rhodes developed a new tool for tumor detection that's 3 times as effective as traditional mammograms for women with dense breast tissue. The life-saving implications are stunning. So why haven't we heard of it? Rhodes shares the story behind the tool's creation, and the web of politics and economics that keep it from mainstream use.
  - runningdogx 15y ago
    (tl;dw for the video: it's about the dramatically improved detection of breast cancer particularly in dense breast tissue (where mammographies often fail to visibly differentiate tumors) by injecting a radiotracer and using small gamma detectors that can fit closely around the breast.) There's also breast thermography. http://www.iact-org.org/patients/breastthermography/what-is-breast-therm.html http://www.iact-org.org/patients/breastthermography/what-is-... And another technique I couldn't find a description of but I read about a while ago, where the breast temperature is altered first. Since tumors have greater blood supply, it makes breast thermography (or something like it... I forget the exact detection method) even more accurate in detecting cancer, since a tumor with greater blood supply will return to normal temperature faster than the surrounding tissue.
    - Karellen 15y ago
      Breast thermography appears to be mostly quackery http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/dr-christiane-northrup-and-breast-thermography-the-opportunistic-promotion-of-quackery/ http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/dr-christiane-...
  - Karellen 15y ago
    There is also good science behind not wanting your cancer detection regimes to be too sensitive - "false" positives complicate the picture immensely. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-early-detection-of-cancer-and-improved-survival-more-complicated-than-most-people-think/ http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-early-dete...

46 points by molecule 15y ago

For those interested in seeing all of her tweets, I've put them up on Storify here to make them easier to read through in order: http://storify.com/michaelschade/myfirstmammo-at-xeni http://storify.com/michaelschade/myfirstmammo-at-xeni

acangiano 15y ago
It's really sad to see the "game" and funny tweets suddenly transform into the somber, "I have breast cancer". I sincerely hope she'll beat it. Wikipedia has interesting details in regards to the controversy surrounding mammograms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammography

Anechoic 15y ago

I've known that women often complain about how uncomfortable mammograms are, but looking at the picture of the machine Xeni tweeted made me realize for the first time how medieval the procedure actually is. I've seen pics of women going through the mammograms, but it's always been from behind-the-shoulder. This link has a NSFW pic of the procedure for those (like me) who didn't actually know how the procedure went: http://cancer.osu.edu/patientsandvisitors/cancerinfo/cancertypes/breast/about/pregnancy/pages/index.aspx http://cancer.osu.edu/patientsandvisitors/cancerinfo/cancert... There's got to be a better way, I can see why some women might be reluctant to have one. Stay strong Xeni.

Sukotto 15y ago
There's got to be a better way According to this TED talk from Dec 2010, there is: http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_rhodes.html http://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_rhodes.html Deborah Rhodes: A tool that finds 3x more breast tumors, and why it's not available to you Working with a team of physicists, Dr. Deborah Rhodes developed a new tool for tumor detection that's 3 times as effective as traditional mammograms for women with dense breast tissue. The life-saving implications are stunning. So why haven't we heard of it? Rhodes shares the story behind the tool's creation, and the web of politics and economics that keep it from mainstream use.
- runningdogx 15y ago
  (tl;dw for the video: it's about the dramatically improved detection of breast cancer particularly in dense breast tissue (where mammographies often fail to visibly differentiate tumors) by injecting a radiotracer and using small gamma detectors that can fit closely around the breast.) There's also breast thermography. http://www.iact-org.org/patients/breastthermography/what-is-breast-therm.html http://www.iact-org.org/patients/breastthermography/what-is-... And another technique I couldn't find a description of but I read about a while ago, where the breast temperature is altered first. Since tumors have greater blood supply, it makes breast thermography (or something like it... I forget the exact detection method) even more accurate in detecting cancer, since a tumor with greater blood supply will return to normal temperature faster than the surrounding tissue.
  - Karellen 15y ago
    Breast thermography appears to be mostly quackery http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/dr-christiane-northrup-and-breast-thermography-the-opportunistic-promotion-of-quackery/ http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/dr-christiane-...
- Karellen 15y ago
  There is also good science behind not wanting your cancer detection regimes to be too sensitive - "false" positives complicate the picture immensely. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-early-detection-of-cancer-and-improved-survival-more-complicated-than-most-people-think/ http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-early-dete...