Stressful Week

The past week has been one crazy ride! It started two Fridays ago when I went for my very first screening mammogram. Since my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age and since I have had a previous biopsy, they recommended that I get a mammogram at age 30. They wanted me to be done breastfeeding for at least 6 months and then get a mammogram before I get pregnant again. Well, I went ahead and scheduled it early (2 months after end of breastfeeding). The radiologist wasnt crazy about it, but agreed to go ahead and do the mammo now. I wasn't worried about it at all. In the past I have had several breast ultrasounds, a fine needle aspiration, and an excisional biopsy. Let's not forget the breast ultrasound that I got four days after giving birth because I was convinced I had breast cancer. Ahhh, gotta love hormones! Anyway, I guess I should have known that it wasn't going to be easy for me.

The radiologist read my screening mammogram and ordered a diagnostic mammo with several magnified views. Right then my worry started kicking in. By the time it was over, the radiologist gave me a category 3-probably benign result due to some microcalcifications in the left breast. She said to come back in for repeat 6 month mammogram. Well, that was not going to do for me. See, I'm not really a "wait and see" kind of patient. I guess you could call me demanding. The mamm tech called me "assertive" ha-my mom would be proud! The radiologist conferred with my surgeon and they decided to send me for a breast MRI. I went the following Wednesday. Gotta love this-My MRI was at 7 AM and then I drove straight to Columbia for two straight days of meetings. They called me later that day and said that the MRI would be ANOTHER category 3 (probably benign) because there were two areas of enhancement (not suspicious) on both sides that they wanted to ultrasound. I had been warned that breast MRI is like pandoras box because it is extremely sensitive. Fast forward to Friday-I went for my ultrasounds. One side looked good but the other was graded a Category 4-suspicious. That is pretty much when I got the daylights scared out of me. As a comparison, my mom got a category 4 result before she was diagnosed. So you can imagine that her anxiety level was through the roof. They went ahead and scheduled me that afternoon for a stereotactic biopsy (mammogram guided) on the left and then an ultrasound guided bx on the right. I think I was in a fog going home. After I got home, I found out that my long time dance teacher had passed away that morning. I just broke down crying from the stress of it all.

I went for both ultrasounds, which took about 2 1/2 hours. Before they started, they told me I had to stay very still and not move, but that at least I had a nice picture that I could look at to distract me. When I looked at the picture, it was a framed poster for my dance teacher's company's performance in Spoleto from 1984. It had his name in big bold letters. I told the nurses that I had danced for him for years and that he had passed away that morning and they were all so shocked. What are the odds that I was in that room and the staff told me to stare at that poster? Strange stuff, I say. The biopsies were tolerable, but then again I think I have a high threshold of pain. I could see how some women could really have problems with it.

At any rate, I was ok as I waited over the weekend with my results, but by the middle of Monday, I was a wreck. Also, Justin left Sun night for a meeting in NYC, so I was missing him and taking care of Jackson. By Tuesday, I think my (and my mom's!) anxiety level was sky high. Finally I got the results that were BENIGN! I definitely had a good relief, or destress cry as my mom says. They found benign calcifications and fibroadenoma, as well as changes due to lactation. Whew!

It's funny-I work for a CDC funded breast and cervical screening program through the American Cancer Society. I mainly work with providers, so I pretty much knew every one of my medical providers, from the rad tech to the surgical oncology nurses. I would say that I def got extra special attention. The radiologist took me back more than once to her office to show me my films, and show me different presentations that she has done to show what benign vs. suspicious films look like. She answered a TON of questions from me. The tech is a long time friend of mine from when I first started the job. The staff there really love the program that I work for and they were so nice-they kept me laughing and assured me that everything was going to be fine. One of my contacts at the hospital came and sat with me before the biopsy. I am really happy with the care I received. The only thing I would suggest is that if a patient has a family history of breast cancer and a history of past biopsies, then I think they should get to scoot the front of the line at pathology. Those 4 days of waiting were so hard, but even harder on my mom. Thank God everything turned out well! I will go back in 6 months for follow up imaging, which is standard procedure. Since I am considered high risk, I will always be a little crazy when it comes to these things. It feels good to have last week behind me!

Needless to say, I am way late on Jackson's 23 month update, as well as a post about our trip to Indiana over the 4th of July weekend. I will work on them soon!