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Bowden survivor says take advantage of new breast cancer screening guidelines

Province’s new rules lower the age that women can get screened for breast cancer to 45 and over from 50 and over
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Bowden resident Joanne Teuling urges women to take advantage of new provincial guidelines that lower the age that women can get screened for breast cancer to 45 and over from 50 and over. She says early detection of her cancer ensured that it was caught while it was still small and easier to deal with.

BOWDEN — A Bowden resident urges women to take advantage of the province’s new guidelines that allow women as young as 45 to get screened for breast cancer. 

Previously, it was recommended that they be at least 50 years old. 

Joanne Teuling says a routine mammogram (breast X-ray) found cancer in her breast last fall early enough that the surgery to remove it was minor, and simple, as was the radiation afterward. 

For many years, Teuling, 63, has been getting mammograms every couple of years as recommended.  

Last week, the provincial government announced it was lowering the recommended age for women to get mammograms from 50 and over to 45 and over. 

A news release said Alberta was the first province to do so and that this change will “expand the benefits of routine screening to more people.” 

“Early detection and treatment gives people with cancer the best chance to survive this disease,” Health Minister Jason Copping said in the news release. 

“Alberta is leading the country by making breast cancer screening available to more women, at a younger age, saving lives in the process.” 

During an interview with the Albertan, Teuling said as far as she’s concerned dropping the screening age is a good idea. 

She indicated that women in that age category should take advantage of it so that if they turn out to have breast cancer, it can be found and dealt with early, before it becomes harder to combat. 

“I think it’s a good idea,” she said. “I think it’s happening more and more and yeah, the earlier you can get on early detection, the better, because mine was so simple and it was because it was caught so early.” 

In about the beginning of October last year, Teuling when for her regular mammogram. 

Later that month she got a call that potential Stage 1 cancer had been detected 

“I burst into tears and then everybody from the office was around me and hugging me and stuff,” she recalled. 

A biopsy was arranged and when the diagnosis was confirmed on Oct. 20 that year, surgery to remove it was done on Dec. 5 in Red Deer. 

The benefit of getting an early diagnosis was clear right on the day of that operation. 

“When they went to try and find it, they had a heck of a time even finding it,” Teuling said. "They had to keep calling the doctor in to make sure they had the right spot.  

“So that kind of made me feel better, that it was that small that they had to have help to detect it and stuff like that.” 

Teuling said she felt no pain during the surgery and it was really easy to accommodate. 

“It was day surgery and then off work for two weeks and then basically back to my regular routine,” she said. 

Teuling did have to go for radiation treatments, but even that was pretty simple and easy to fit into her schedule as well. 

“I had a choice of 15 days for five minutes or five days for 10 minutes and I chose the five days for 10 minutes, so I just went every day to Red Deer for a 10-minute radiation treatment for one week,” she said. 

Teuling said there was no pain involved in the radiation. 

“The worst part was sitting with your hands over top of your head for 10 minutes,” she said with a laugh. 

She also had to hold her breath in order to pull her lungs away from the radiation machine. 

“She would say, ‘take a deep breath’ when she knew that the laser was coming to a certain point and then you would hold it,” Teuling said. 

“Sometimes it was like, ‘OK, I’m ready to breathe again,’ and the next time it seemed like it was shorter, so I don’t know how it works.  

“So if that was the worst of what I have to deal with, that wasn’t bad at all. 

“Just keep on those every-other-year mammograms. The earlier it’s detected, the simpler it is to get rid of it,” she said. 

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