From Google News

A few years ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with a painful left breast and two lumps. The lumps were firm, yet mobile, like two tiny peas next to each other.

I admit I panicked a little. My first thought was that breast cancer surgeons are not supposed to get breast cancer. This is obviously not true, since my risk is 12 percent, the same as every other average woman.

I called a radiologist friend at 2 a.m. to meet me for an ultrasound. The result: two benign-appearing cysts. This was later confirmed by a professional breast exam and another ultrasound.

I was relieved, and to this day I do regular breast self-exams.

My story is not unique. A large number of young and older women discover lumps in their breasts. The key for each woman is to know how her breasts normally feel at the same time each month, say, a few days after her period, if she has not gone through menopause. That will make changes easier to detect.

The goal of self-exams is to detect breast cancer early, which can result in a greater chance of cure.

The risk of breast cancer is likely smaller than most women think. While the lifetime risk is as high as 1 in 8 women, the majority of cancers occur later in life, and many are picked up on mammography - a good reminder about the importance of annual mammograms.

There has been some controversy recently about the effectiveness of self-examinations because several large-scale studies have not been able to attribute a higher rate of cure to women who do them. However, many clinicians still encourage their female patients to perform them monthly. In the 1980s and 1990s, most breast cancers were discovered in this way, and even today 25 percent of patients discover breast cancer themselves. Johns Hopkins Medical Center puts the figure even higher - 40 percent of diagnosed breast cancers are first detected by women who feel a lump.

Among women who have regular mammography, the breast cancers that develop between mammograms - or "interval cancers" - tend to be faster growing than those that are "screen detected." For these fast-growing cancers, breast self-examination can potentially lead to a much higher cure rate.

A lump can be detected through self-examination at around 1 centimeter, or 0.4 inch. Smaller masses than these are typically picked up on screening mammography, an important component of breast health for women over 40 years of age.

Here are some guidelines to breast self-examination:

If you are still having periods, examine yourself several days after your period ends, when your breasts are least likely to be swollen and tender. Many smaller breast lumps turn out to be something called fibroadenoma, a totally benign lesion. These can wax and wane in size throughout the menstrual cycle and are not considered cancerous or even precancerous.

Lumps that last beyond one full menstrual cycle or seem to get bigger or more prominent are of special concern. These need medical attention by a nurse practitioner or breast cancer specialist.

Do not be overly concerned if you feel a lump - it is likely to be normal or benign. Only 20 percent of women with suspicious lumps turn out to have breast cancer; even then, the majority of these cancers are curable.

If you feel a lump that concerns you, especially if you have had breast augmentation, please come in and we can teach you how to examine your breasts. We have model breasts that can depict cancer, benign cysts, dense breast tissue and masses like benign fibroadenomas.

This training could be a godsend if you ever wake up, as I did, with breast pain, a small lump and a million questions in your head.