OBGYN phone call

I received a call from my OBGYN a couple days later to follow up with the mammogram and ultrasound reports. He told me the radiologist called him and gave him the details and told him I should schedule a biopsy. This could take another week to schedule. She told him it didn't look suspicious to her which made me feel better. In fact, she told him she seems to think it's benign. Then he told me in his opinion he felt the best thing to do is to go to a Breast Specialist/Surgical Oncologist to get them surgically removed and then biopsied. He said if it was his wife he would want them out to be on the safe side. I could tell he didn't want me to take any risks. Even though he told me that everything would turn out okay. Plus they would have to biopsy all three and one of them was really small. I took his advice and started to take action.

Mammogram and Ultrasound Appointment

The day of my mammogram and ultrasound appointment was on May 16th. I won't forget that date because it was my 13th anniversary at my company. I was over the 12 year mark which meant I receive 4 weeks of vacation. Although that day wasn't a day of celebration for me. I went to the test by myself since I didn't feel anything would really go wrong. I felt much better after I spoke to my doctor that it was probably nothing. I was just double checking to make sure. When I went into the room for the mammogram I saw this big machine that looked like a big vice. I heard about mammograms, however I had no idea they looked so big and somewhat intimidating. It basically squeezes each breast like someone just put a clamp down and pressed really hard. It was painful, but I was glad each clamp didn't last that long. It seemed like they took a ton of pictures in different positions. They put something over my lump which looked like a small round sticker the size of a penny with a round little metal ball in the middle. This was to get a better shot of the lump and the surrounding area. I took at glimpse at the screen which I probably shouldn't have. I thought I saw a couple more lumps, but then again I had no idea what I was looking at. The tech didn't say a word the whole time. I was starting to worry. I was hoping I would hear her say everything looks fine and going to be okay. When she was finished she basically just said good luck. At that point I was thinking could it possibly be something I should worry about? Anyway, the next step was the ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was more open with me about what she saw. At first she was making me feel better. She said to me that I don't need to worry and nothing looks suspicious to her. She also said that many young women have these lumps. Then I was like wait a minute. I looked at the screen and saw a couple more lumps. What do you mean more lumps? There was one smaller lump behind the lump that I felt which was the biggest. Then another tiny lump around the area. For some reason when I saw them I felt something was wrong and they didn't look right to me. She kept trying to convince me not to worry and that I was going to be okay. When I was finished I had to wait about an hour before I could meet with the radiogist. That hour dragged on forever. The tech came out and told me it would be a wait and she was in with another patient. She tried to tell me everything will be alright. There was a phone in the waiting room and I decided to call my husband at work. When he answered I told him I was really scared and nervous and I started to cry. He felt really bad for not being there with me. He had no idea that I would be going through this time of anticipation by myself. He thought it would be a simple test and that everything would turn out fine. There was a chance, however it wasn't fine. When I saw the radiologist she told me that the lumps were not cystic meaning that because they were solid I would need a biopsy. I asked her how they looked to her and she couldn't give me a direct answer. I just wanted her to say everything was going to be okay, but she couldn't. She just told me that they are here for me and that they know it's scary, but they couldn't say anything until they knew for sure. At that point I was nervous. I drove home in tears and was thinking this could possibly be breast cancer. They sent the x-rays and reports to my OBGYN and he called me in a few days. Those few days really dragged.

My OBGYN Visit for Breast Exam

It was Friday, May 11th that I had the appointment with my OBGYN for the breast exam. It was just a couple days before Mother's Day. My doctor delivered my youngest child in Aug, 2005 and I've seen him just six months before for my yearly exam in Oct, 2006. In fact, just six months before he did a breast exam and there were no apparent lumps detected. When the doctor examined me he felt the lump and told me it felt benign. He said it was most likely a cyst or fibroademona. To be on the safe side he sent me for a mammogram and ultrasound just to be sure. He told me not to worry about anything and to have a great Mother's Day. I felt better talking to him that everything was going to be okay. I was also glad that I was going to get it checked just to make sure it wasn't malignant.

The day I found the lump

It was on Wed, May 9th, 2007 when I found the lump in my left breast. It was after 9:00 pm when I was in the shower and felt the lump that would make my life turn upside down. That night I felt something terribly wrong and had the feeling it was breast cancer. My kids were asleep and my husband was on the computer when I ran downstairs and told him about the lump. He told me not to worry and that it was probably benign. He began to research on the computer to see what we should look for. It felt smooth and round to both of us and seemed to move. It also had some pain and cancer wasn't supposed to have those characteristics. I still felt something was not right and I ran into the bathroom and started to cry. I was thinking to myself that I just turned 34 not even a couple weeks ago on April 21st. How could I even have breast cancer this young? My youngest son is only 20 months and my oldest is almost 3 1/2 years old. My two little boys were the first thought going through my head. How could this possibly be cancer? I have my whole life ahead of me to take care of these precious boys. How could these even be possible? No one in my family for generations even had breast cancer. I fell to the floor and said to myself please let this not be cancer. This couldn't happen to me. The very next day I called my OBGYN and made an appointment for Friday morning.