I’d like to ask you a question. When was the last time you did a breast self-exam? I do them pretty frequently because the natural topography of my bosums includes some denser tissue which can feel, well, lumpy.
In early February, I found a lump. Now, this did not particularly alarm me because I’ve had a cyst before and there’s no history of breast cancer in my family. Still, it was something I needed to get checked out. Because of some unexpected travel, I had to wait till I got back to Portland to schedule a visit to the doctor which meant waiting a month and a half.
Monday, the doctor checked it and informed me that I was correct that there was a lump. But it wasn’t a cyst.
Which meant a mammogram and probably an ultrasound were in order. The imaging center could get me in on Wednesday, which was great but left me with a day and a half for my brain to eat itself. I found myself wishing I was still in Iceland where these things are dealt with much faster.
I’ve been so certain that it was nothing that I was completely thrown by the fact that it might be something. Now, there was still a fair chance that it would turn out to be just a fibroid or some other benign thing. And yet… the not knowing was crazy-making.
This morning I hopped on my bike and headed down to EPIC Imaging (Yes really figuring that the endorphins of the ride would help. The folks there were incredibly nice and took me back pretty fast. We did the first set.
Now… the technician told me that the mammogram shouldn’t hurt anymore than sleeping on my stomach. I am dubious about this. In fairness, the fact that my bosom is being flattened between two plates isn’t the uncomfortable bit. It’s the pinching and stretching of the skin around it. She was very efficient and made it as painless as possible.
Back out to the waiting room while she had the doctor look at them.
Then back in for more images focusing on the area with the lump. The whole time she was reassuring me that more images doesn’t mean anything and then said, “Now, the small paddle. That will be uncomfortable.”
Oof. She was right. Again, though, very kind and took good care of me.
Back out to the waiting room while she had the doctor look at them.
Then I was taken back to have an ultrasound. As the technician was working on me, she said, “I think you’ve got a lymph node there.” Before my brain could try to parse that, she explained that it was a normal thing and not cancerous but that she’d have to have the doctor confirm it.
By the time I was dressed we had the confirmation that the lump is just a lymph node and that it isn’t at all unusual for them to become more apparent as a woman ages. It also becomes firmer during the course of my cycle. Now I know it is there and can safely add it to the internal topography when I do my self-exams.
So, I’m fine.
It was really like someone reached into my head and flicked a switch from “Fret” to “Happy!”
Now… my request to you is: Please do breast self-exams regularly.
I’m glad it turned out to be nothing to worry about.
Me too!
How nerve wracking!
Glad you got it checked out, and even more glad it was normal.
Yeah, it was really the waiting that was making me tense.
Whew – nerve-wracking, indeed. Very glad it wasn’t anything bad! I’m with you that waiting is worse than anything.
>the mammogram shouldn’t hurt anymore than sleeping on my stomach< Yeah, right. I will say, though, the folks at the place I go to every year are fantastic! I love the techs there. They're all so understanding, kind and careful.
Definitely an exam that women should not skip!
Indeed! It fulfills the very definition of “necessary evil.”
I went through the exact same thing a couple of years ago. I think I had about a week to fret before my appointment. My outcome was that they didn’t even find the lump that I felt and that my doctor felt. There was a small area of denser tissue, and, like you, I have the “lumpy” variety of breasts (apparently). The endorphin plan was brilliant. Now you have a baseline mammogram for the future, which is good.
It’s the week of fretting that is so unhappy making. In Iceland, you go in and they do everything in one trip.
Whew, I’m glad you are okay!
Nothin’ like a radiologist saying, “Hmmm. I’d like to get another look at that.” It’s happened to me twice (once with a six month period where they didn’t know what the problem was and decided to wait-and-watch) and, yes: tense is the right word.
So happy it’s all okay. And it’s worth getting your tit stuck in a wringer, as my Mom used to say, to find out that there’s no problem.
Yes… which has actually just happened. My doctor just called and wants to do a followup next month, just to be sure.
I don’t think this is anything to worry about, truly. I think it’s just a safety thing.
Glad it turned out to be “normal”. Having lost my mother to breast cancer which eventually metz’d to her brain stem, this is one of those Things I Bug The Women In My Life About.
Though I be but a lowly Mechanical Engineer, one of my continuous background-processing loops is dedicated to figuring out a way to stop cancer… (another is selfish: redesign the knee as something suitable for bipeds, but that’s another problem).