I had a breast MRI yesterday, for the first time in my life, as before I had only gotten mammograms starting in 2009 (that early because my mother died of breast cancer metastasis). So the imaging center called me this morning about scheduling diagnostic imaging as there was an abnormality in my left breast and the doctor wants to look more closely. The word abnormality scared me. Then an automated message arrived to reassure me that fewer than 10% of women who are called back after a screening imaging procedure receive the diagnosis of breast cancer. I asked AI to act as a specialist in medical informatics and statistics and explain what seemed like different messages to me. It did. The reassuring message talked about an area of interest and the human I talked to said abnormality, but they mean the same thing. They mean something does not look quite as expected and merits a further investigation. Most of the time, that investigation proves that that something is benign. The screening procedures are high sensitivity, aimed at reducing false negatives, and as a result produce a fair number of false positives. The diagnostic procedure that follows is high specificity, aimed as filing out diseases and not producing false positives. I am scheduled for that high specificity diagnostic imaging procedure on Sept 3 and I will know the results while at the imaging center. They also invited me to call daily to see if there are any cancellations for an earlier date. And I have made an appointment to see my internist next week. She is not the doctor who ordered imaging, but she can do another breast exam on the left side. Her office is quite far, but to me it is worth a drive

Nothing changes in terms of eating and exercise, though, and I am going to the gym now for another of those fun simulated rides. I realize that less than 10% is a small number, but even if I am part of that 10%< I should continue exercising. I have already looked up information about the studies that showed that women with breast cancer who exercised lived longer and experienced fewer breast cancer recurrences.