It's not cancer!!

So, most of world didn't know anything about this until today..and now that it's over, I'll share my story.

A month ago, I found a lump in my left breast. I'm really maticulous about doing my monthly self-exams, so I knew that this hadn't been there before. It was slightly painful and a lot scary. When it wasn't gone a week later, I called my GYN and went to see her. She thought it might be a cyst and sent me for an ultrasound and mammogram. They confirmed it was not a cyst, that a cyst would be fluid filled, and this that was a solid mass. I needed a biopsy. A week later, I went to a different doc who told me that because of the location and shape, he felt an ultrasound-guided biopsy would be better. I waited another week. Yesterday, I had that biopsy done. You go in, they do another ultrasound. They locate the tissue, give some lidocaine, make a small incision, and stick a probe in there to grab some tissue samples. They took 8 samples total. They also put a small piece of titanium in there as a marker for future mammograms. (I won't set off any metal detectors at the airport or break any x-ray machines). After they bandaged me up, they sent me for another mammogram to check the placement of the marker. They only allowed me to take Tylenol for pain because aspirin or ibuprofen encourages bleeding. I wasn't to do anything for the rest of the day. No shower this morning either (Yuck!). Don't worry...I spongebathed. For today, I can lift 5 lbs and tomorrow, I can resume normal activity. I called for the results today. It's not cancer!! It's benign! Yahoo! Thank you Lord!

I can tell you this has been one of the scariest experiences of my life. It ranks up there pretty high. The waiting and wondering what was happening with me was torture. The prospect of having to tell my son that I had cancer...wondering what would happen to my body...all those thoughts were in my head. I tried to have an attitude of "I'm not going to panic until someone says I have a reason to", but there were times that the fear made it almost impossible to breathe. I watched my grandmother go through it and it was awful.

My point in writing this note is two things
1. Please please please do your monthly self exams. It could save your life.
2. Don't let someone tell you that you're fine until they have proof. So many people tried to tell me "don't worry, it's nothing, I don't know what you're nervous about, I had something like that, it's a cyst, it's scar tissue from surgery, it doesn't need to be checked", and more BS statements. GET CHECKED! 18 yr old girls have gotten breast cancer, my doctor has a 32 year old patient right now with it. GET CHECKED!

Thanks for letting me share my story.