It's been a crazy few months, finishing strong with a lumpectomy and subsequent R&R.I'll get to the punchline first: Benign.
My journey started in January with a routine Mammogram. I got called back, but wasn't surprised. I had my first Mammogram done when I was 30, after my doctor "felt something" at my yearly exam. That turned out to be "dense."
Fast forward to the call back. Two more Mammograms (12 pictures) and 2 Ultrasounds with the doctor saying, "I cannot rule out cancer."
Next up, a needle biopsy. For the girl afraid of needles, I survived pretty well. In fact, I couldn't even feel the numbing. 48 hours later, the results showed the "mass" or "tumor" (yes, it has been described a number of ways) was benign.
However, I was told I was being automatically referred to the surgeon and was told they'd explain it to me. 10 days latter I entered the waiting room and was quickly humbled when I saw how many people were waiting to be seen or have treatment.
The surgeon - an old school, matter of fact guy who never used "medical" terms to explain my tumor, essentially told me the tumor was quite large. In fact, it was twice the size of where they get concerned. Additionally, but extremely rare, the biopsy could have been a false negative since they did not remove the entire structure. Could we leave it in and wait and see, yes. But over time, these tumors have been known to show a malignancy. So, it need to come out. Let's be clear, how can you even tell this is a tumor (what you are looking at is the permanent marker - or clip - they placed in my breast after the biopsy so if I were to have surgery, the marker would show the surgeon exactly where he needed to go).
Two and a half weeks later, I was rolled into an operating room at 12;12 p.m. to remove the tumor (this after my first procedure to insert a wire to connect to the clip so the surgeon's job would be easier - this wss not comfortable and I did have something that resembled a wire hanger sticking out of my breast).
45 minutes later, the surgeon called my friends to let them know that it all went well and the surgery was by the book (and since he had to initial me just to be double sure he was working on the correct breast).
I remember looking up at the clock in record and it was 1:10 p.m. Once I stopped crying uncontrollably (guess that was my reaction to the anesthesia), I was able to have a few treat (water, tea, chips, and Oreos). My friends joined me and we left a little more than an hour later. We stopped to get some medicine at the pharmacy (narcotics- which I never ended up taking), got some lunch, and was home by 5 p.m.).
The best news is the pathology came back benign and will only need to have a annual mammogram from here on out.
So let this be a lesson for all of us. Make sure you do your annual check ups and tests. I had no symptoms. Felt nothing. And the only way I knew I had this was because of my Mammogram.
