I am incredibly and eternally grateful: Early detection of cancer through digital mammography

As a woman whose first digital mammogram revealed a potential abnormality, I was calm for the repeat imaging, expecting it to be normal on the second look.

My anxiety increased, however, during the next few months as I progressed to a series of more elaborate, more invasive tests and biopsies, and a diagnosis of a small, in situ cancer, now successfully treated.

Despite the extremely harrowing, sleepless and depressing few months (mostly spent waiting for the next procedure), I am incredibly and eternally grateful for digital mammography and for its medical practitioners who made my very early diagnosis possible.

Sally Chrisman's Advice: Don’t delay your mammograms, even if you are anxious about a possible call back. Early detection definitely saves lives.

Read another mammogram story.

Thanks to Sally Chrisman for writing to the editor of the NY Times, published in today's issue.