| For the Ladies.... |
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| I guess by now you know how real I get with you...well, there is one other thing that I feel is really important I want to share with you....Breast Cancer Awareness..... In late March of this year, I went for my annual pap smear and mammogram. The pap smear, though a pain in the butt was fine. I had my mammogram scheduled for the following week. Now I don't know if you tend to procrastinate when it comes to these things, but I have been known to do this. For many years, in fact, since I was 30, I have had to get one done every year because of fibrous breast tissue... Each year, when it was time to get my annual check-up, I would dread having the mammagram done because it's always so frightening waiting for the results. This year, for some reason, probably because all the previous results have been good I was not in the least bit concerned.....My mammogram was scheduled for early April... So I go get my mammagram..I was having a great day, feeling confident, not even tripping when I was told to wait in the hall while they developed the exrays. In fact, I was SO confident, I almost went ahead and put my top back on instead of waiting like I was told. The tech comes back in a few minutes and tells me she needs to take some more pictures. Okay, so this has happenend before, so I remain calm, but my heart starts beating a little faster, but we take the pictures. The tech comes back AGAIN, this time, with a grim look on her face. That was when panic set in, because I could see the worry in HER face! This time, she took 12 more pictures, explaining there was a mass showing up consistently on my exrays, and to avoid my having to keep coming back for further tests she was going to do them all at one time... The next day, I get a call telling me I needed to come back for further tests...now I knew something was wrong. I ask the tech to explain what was up.... I had 2 masses in my right breast, masses that the doctor had not even felt during my exam...one on the inner part of my breast, the part near the cleavage, and the other on the outer side of my breast, the mound near your armpit!! I went back and had more exrays done. Then I had a sit down with the doctor who is the Head of the Radiology department when the exrays were finished. The doctor informed me I needed to have a tissue biopsy immediately....from all indications I had breast cancer...... How can I ever explain the terror you feel hearing those words.....cancer....she didn't say "You may possibly have breast cancer"....nahhhh....she said, "From all indications you HAVE breast cancer"....I was told I was going to have a procedure called a stereoactic biopsy done. I was given a video and told to come in the next day. Stupid as this sounds, one of the first things I thought about was the fact the doctor had told me if I did have breast cancer I probaby have to have chemotherapy....which would cause me to loose all my body hair....I immediately pictured my locs laying on the floor....it's sooo stupid!!! My life was possibly in jeopardy, and I was tripping on my locs!! How shallow....how disgusting.... A stereoactic biopsy is a procedure where they have you lay on your stomach on a table with a hole in it for your breast to hang out. I have large breasts, so it made sense to me...but I thought about the women who have small breasts as I lay there....wondering how they did the procedure on them when the breast does not hang down... There was a different doctor who did this procedure on me, another Radiologist. What they do is take a bunch of pictures first to make sure they are in the right area as you lay on the table. You are told not to move, because if you do you can change the position of your breast and therefore the area they are working on.....After they take the pictures, and verify they are in the correct spot they inject your breast with this medicine to numb your breast. A stereoactic biopsy is like kinda like having a continuous ultrasound done....the doctor and tech can see exactlly what's going on because the camera is filming everything. YOU can't see what's happening because you are laying flat on your tummy(if your tummy is flat), and your head is turned the opposite direction. After your breast is numbed, the doctor makes a small incison in the area....then,they take this machine that basically injects a rapid moving needle into your breast tissue repeatedly. This needle sucks out about a dozen samples of the tissue in question...it happens very fast, the needle moving around in different spots. It is very loud and sounds kinda like a machine gun....When they are finished removing the tissue, they take MORE pictures to make sure they have removed tissue samples from each corner of the area in question. Then they do some other things that you don't have a clue about while you lay there....like look at the samples and put them on slides or in valves or something. The procedure takes about an hour.....and since I had TWO areas of concern they did the same thing all over again in the other, larger spot.... Afterwards, the doctor puts some of those criss cross bandages on the areas. You are told you will be notified as soon as the Pathologist has a chance to study the tissue....OMG!!!...the wait, which takes several days, is agonizing.....and the pain...because they have removed tissue, it makes the whole breast swell up, and having two areas worked on made it even worse!! But more than the pain, the WAIT is...beyond words...it's very frightening....and emotionally draining.... A few days later the doctor calls me and says the pathology came back negative....meaning there were no signs of cancer present....I immediately started crying....loudly!! And I immediately worked my way down to my knees to thank God... The doctor told me the lab results would be sent to the Head of the Radiology Department...the doctor who had originally told me I "have breast cancer".....I was to be called in a few days after she had a chance to read the reports, but he saw no reason to worry....based on the pathology.... I started healing from the procedure....it took a couple of weeks to ALMOST get back to normal, partly because of the trauma to your system, and partly because I am slow to heal....and as the days went by I kept waiting to hear from the doctor that all is well...the days stretched into 2 weeks...and I STILL had not heard anything....Now, bear with me here....I was tripping because I know and YOU know doctors should know how much anxiety waiting for that final okay is!!!! I mean, if they know how stressed out you become getting a simple mammogram, why would they think you would be LESS stressed waiting for the final okay???....sigh.... I kept telling myself that no news is good news....that the pathology was fine, so I should just be patient....but damn it!! It's not fair for people to have your peace of mind in their hands and act so cavalier about it, you know?? So I finally called the doctor who did the procedure and asked WTF was going on!! It had been almost three weeks!!! He seemed pretty shocked that no one had called me...and said he would call me later that day.... When he called, he explained the Head of Radiology had been on vacation....he had spoken to her and she determined that I needed to get a FULL biopsy...because in her opinion all the areas of concern had not been sampled....I was to go see the surgeon a couple of days later. My other option was to come in every two months and have a mammogram!!!! So you know I kept my appointment... The Surgeon took one look at my exrays with me....he told me I truly needed to have both masses removed right away, because of their location and the fact that there really could be cancer cells lurking there....I was scheduled for the surgery a week later.... It's the weirdest feeling in the world to know you are going to be knocked out unconcious and be operated on....I had reached a true high knowing the pathology had showed no signs of cancer, but hearing the words that, though the samples showed nothing, the possibilty was still there...it sent me back to zero again...I had to go have a mini-physical done in the week prior to the surgery. Basically, all they did was weigh me and take my bloodpressure. Then I was given a list of do's and don'ts'....DON'T take any vitamins or herbal supplements until 3 days after the surgery....they work as blood thinners, and could cause me to bleed....DON'T eat or drink anything from 6 PM the night before the surgery til the day after it....I could become violently ill.....DON'T take anything by mouth after 6 PM except my blood pressure medication.....Do relax....Do wash thoughly with this special soap the night before and the morning of.....stuff like that....oh....and bring someone with you....you would not be able to drive afterwards for at least 24 hours..... I go in and have the surgery done....it took almost 4 hours....It's painless while it's happening because you are knocked out, but afterwards the pain is....beyond words....I was put in recovery for 4 more hours and I was given some very strong pain medication before I was allowed to leave and some juice and a prescription for more pain medication, and told to take it every 2 to 4 hours as needed....and if I ran out, call and they would order more...duhhhhh and .....remember....I had TWO masses!!! My whole breast was covered with bandages....I could barely move my arm....I had a fever....I had chills....I vomited because the pain medicine was so strong....I was also freaking... because, once again, I was waiting for the pathology results...... A few days later, the surgeon called and told me the results were again negative.....Thank God....I did not have to come back for more mammograms until next year. Both masses were gone, and I would heal in about 6-8 weeks.....and I did....I am cancer free and blessed.... I am putting this on my website as a reminder to all of the ladies to take your yearly exams very seriously!! Do NOT procrastinate when it's time to get your check up..... Think about all our sisters who have been thru what I have and actually HAVE cancer to deal with.....and pray for them, because if I felt this wack only having biopsies done, imagine how they feel living with the disease itself.... I am now fully healed...my right breast has some serious dents in it because of the amount of tissue they had to remove to get all the wack tissue out..... Just thought I would share this with you....as a reminder of how blessed we truly are..... ....just me...daez Thank you God for giving me another day of life...AMEN.... |