your mammogram story is so sickening. And all of the repeat "call back" mammograms contribute to cancer (maybe the technology has improved since I went through my mammogram scare 17 years ago and decided to stop getting them).

I have now had two friends tell me with that "I'm a victim too" tone in their voice, "I have cancer and I'm getting a double mastectomy. Thank God they caught it early -- it is only stage one." Or, "they picked up diffuse cancer with no particular tumors, so thank God they caught it and I had a mastectomy." These women didn't have cancer!!!!!! The fear they place in us is criminal, and yes, as a friend once told me, "they will make you merchandise" -- i.e., we are generators of profits -- keep us alive and "sick" for as long as possible, drag out the misery, debility and drain us of every dollar, then we are allowed (or made to) die.

Well, I decided I would rather die than allow the medical system to poison, mutilate and scare me to death. Even if I should have some undiagnosed "something" that I will die of, I enjoy each day and I'm not going to spend my life going from doctor to doctor or in medical facilities.

I fear that more than I fear any illness or death.