A Fear Many Women Live With, A Fear to Overcome

Kapi'olani's Breast Center helps woman overcome fear

On a list of favorite things to do, having a mammogram may rival doing your taxes. We all realize it's sensible, but the temptation is to keep putting it off.

At least that was the case for Lynne Waters, a busy Honolulu communications consultant and former television news reporter. Two months shy of her 46th birthday, Waters decided to have a mammogram for the first time.

She knew she was overdue. Most doctors recommend a baseline screening at age 40, and annual screenings thereafter to look for abnormalities that could be breast cancer. The American Cancer Society also calls for an initial screening at age 40.

"I just never wanted to do it," Waters recalls. "That's just the bottom line."

But then she had a wake-up call. Her mother was diagnosed with an early stage of breast cancer. Suddenly she had a history of cancer in her family, and she knew that meant her own risk had gone up.

The story ended happily. Waters proved cancer free. And her mother, Carolyn Waters, 69, of Tyler, Texas, responded favorably to cancer treatments, although she jokingly laments, "I've had more strangers look at my left breast than Janet Jackson!"

Many Hawaii women resist regular mammograms for fear of discomfort. To ensure a good image, the breast needs to be compressed.

Waters admits to zero tolerance for pain. "That was the main thing. The other lurking issue was that they would find something, which is, of course, silly, because it's better to find something earlier than later."

Ines Finin, the Kapi'olani Breast Center's nurse coordinator, has heard everybody's qualms.

One myth, she says, is that the radiation from a mammogram actually increases the chances of breast cancer. The truth is, women get less radiation from a mammogram than from the sun on a day at the beach.

For some, "It's mostly fear of the unknown that keeps them away," Finin says.

Others have no insurance and worry they cannot afford the procedure. But Finin says Kapi'olani has programs in place to help women in that situation.

Hawaiians and Filipinos are among those with the very lowest screening rates, with many objecting purely on the basis of modesty, Finin observes. "They know their breasts will be exposed."

But once inside the Center, women are put at ease by a homey ambience.

"It used to be that imaging departments were in the basement, so they were dark and dank," says Finin. "They were not a very pleasant place. But when you walk into the Breast Center, you find a really pleasant environment."

The Breast Center impressed Waters.

"Every staff member with whom I came into contact was polite, helpful, efficient, accommodating and sensitive to my needs as a patient," she wrote in a thank-you note. Her favorite part: her massage following the mammogram, another service that Kapi'olani offers to help women feel their best.

But even the worst of it wasn't so bad, she now concedes. "The fear of it is worse than the actual experience, which was manageable. If I can get through it, anyone can."

To schedule your mammogram, call the Kapi'olani Breast Center at 535-7000, or request an appointment online.