Road to Diagnosis: The Last Two Weeks

It all started on Friday, March 6.  As I stepped out of the shower, thinking about the day ahead, I noticed a pimple on my left breast.  Being the picker that I am, I went to squeeze it.  As I squeezed that pimple, the pressure caused an expression to emerge from my nipple.  This was quite odd to me since I had stopped breast feeding my daughter back in July.  I dabbed it with a piece of toilet paper and squeezed again to see if more would be expressed.  More did come out, and I noticed it was bloody. 

I am pretty in tune with my body, and I knew that wasn't normal.  I decided to call my OB and was able to get a noon appointment.  At that appointment she said that the discharge wasn't normal, and she examined my breast and said that she didn't feel any lumps, but that I needed to get some imaging done just in case there was something going on she couldn't see. 

I got to the hospital at 2:00 and I was told I would get a mammogram, and if necessary, an ultrasound.  I was by far the youngest woman in the waiting room, and I was swimming in the open front gown they make you wear.  When they called me back, the tech shared her name and there was no small talk as we walked to the machine.  She took her photos and told me to go back to the waiting room. 

She called me back again and she said we would have to do more photos on a 3D mammogram machine. She stepped out of the room for a moment and as she did I leaned back to take a peak at her screen.  I saw that she had zoomed in on an area that was mainly white.  That's when I knew.  I knew something was wrong.  I stood there with my left breast hanging out, facing the mammogram machine with a lead apron wrapped around my waist, knowing this was not the end.  The tech walked back in and became rather friendly than before.  Yep, something's definitely up.  She escorted me back to the waiting room and told me I would be having an ultra sound. 

I laid on a table as the ultrasound tech took pictures.  She was quiet and careful and then left the room.  When she returned, she introduced me to a second ultra sound tech who repeated the motions of the first.  They both left the room and said a radiologist would be in shortly. 

The two ultrasound techs, a nurse, and the radiologist entered the room. We had a detailed conversation about the discharge and he had me express some.  He then said that my mammogram was "complicated."  I have macrocalcifications underneath my breast, which if it were just that would not be a huge issue.  The issue was that I had many microcalcifications in one concentrated area on top of my breast.  For that reason, I would have to have a biopsy.  He also said he wasn't sure if the discharge was related to this or not.  There was an 80% chance the biopsy results would be normal, and 20% chance of it being cancer.

Thursday, March 12 was the day of my biopsy.  The procedure was quite quick.  I had to wear a sports bra and wrap myself with an ace bandage for 3 days afterwards, but the most difficult part was not being able to pick up my daughter (or any heavy lifting for that matter). 

On Monday, March 16 I got the results.  A woman called me while I was at work.  Deep down I knew what the result would be, so when she told me I did have cancer I wasn't surprised.  It was more of a confirmation that was able to put an end to all of my "what if"ing.  All of the information I know at this point can all fit on a post-it note: Breast Cancer, DCIS, Stage 0.  The treatment will probably be a lumpectomy and radiation. 

I spent the week sharing with my friends and family. There were more tears on their end than mine.  After all, I had a week and a half to get used to the idea. 

But, I consider myself lucky.  Lucky that I caught it early, and lucky I have friends and family that would shed tears for my well-being.  

Tomorrow I go to meet with a breast surgeon, to hopefully get more answers.  So...we'll see what luck tomorrow brings.