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DENVER (CBS4) – Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a relief for most people, but some women are discovering a worrying side effect of both the Pfizer and Modern vaccines. The vaccination can cause lymph nodes to swell and this may reflect the signs of breast cancer.
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Even a radiologist specializing in bust was scared.
“I panicked, I will admit at first,” said Dr. Bridget Rogers, radiologist at Solis Mammography, said.
She knew that swollen lymph nodes could be a sign of breast cancer. So in early January, she was worried.
“I had a big, visible, painful lump,” she told CBS4 Health Specialist Kathy Walsh.
The previous day, Rogers had her second COVID-19 shot, the Pfizer vaccine. She knew that a possible side effect was enlarged lymph nodes.
“I tried to reassure myself by remembering that it’s actually a sign that the vaccine is doing what it needs to do, activating your immune system,” she said.
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Rogers admits she watched with an ultrasound.
“It’s always different to be patient with the experience,” she said. “It was a sigh of relief the second day when it started to improve, rather than worsen.”
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Rogers is not alone. She showed CBS4 the mammograms of another doctor who had received a vaccine.
‘So it’s last year. It is the lymph nodes that are enlarged this year. ”
“I tried to warn women early on,” said Dr. Stephanie Miller, a breast surgeon and medical director of the breast program at Rose Medical Center.
“We do not want to stop anyone from being part of the vaccination process,” Miller said.
She said breast cancer did not slow down during the pandemic. She tells women to get their mammograms, and let the mammography center know if you have had a vaccine recently.
“So we can get the right explanation for what we see,” she said.
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Miller said postponing mammograms this year had consequences.
“Women develop and present with breast cancer a little later in the game, and we want to reduce that as much as possible,” Miller said.
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She does not want women to panic. Her message is to get a COVID-19 vaccine and a mammogram, both of which are important for your health.