Breast Lumps are Scarey!
I have not posted this week because I've been really busy planning my funeral. In case this story gets really long, I will tell you up front that there is no funeral to atend. The Cowboy tells me on a regular basis that I am a drama queen and I am starting to think he is right!
I painted the dining room on Sunday, which looks great by the way, and when I got home I was SO sore. In the midst of rubbing and soothing my sore arms, back and chest muscles, I found a mass in my breast. I've had a cyst in my right breast that I found while breast feeding Amelia. I've always been told it was a fluid filled cyst and we are fine. I have been ok with it living there because I hate needles. What I felt on Sunday was completely different. It was larger and more of a mass.
I'm not sure how many of you reading this have breastfed babies and I'm not sure what your results were, but this Mama fed two babies and I now have A cup boobs. It's terrible! I do still buy B cup bras because a 34 year old woman should have nothing to do with an A cup bra. It's just not happening! Point being is that while I proudly wear my sad little sacks of womanhood, they allow me to feel everything inside them. I found myself doing self breast exams multiple times a week because I feel so many bumps and lumps.
In my hysteria I had a friend feel my breast and on Monday morning I called my doctor. Tuesday afternoon my doctor said "Let's get it checked out and I'm just going to send you to a surgeon if you are ok with that. She can get you in ASAP and if the ultrasound on your breast warrants a biopsy she can do it right then." What?! Listen friends, if you want to freak this girl out put the word surgeon and ASAP on my medical chart. I had an appointment for the next week, but called in my drama queen tone and had it moved up to this Thursday. Between Tuesday and Thursday I spent my time googling to find out the chances of me having breast cancer (which is the quickest way to make yourself think you are dying), calling my Mom to hear every single detail of how everything happened when she had a fibrous cyst, peppering my Mother-in-Law, who is a breast cancer survivor, of her thoughts and calling/texting/emailing a very small circle of friends to pray for me because my faith was just not strong enough.
Why is it that you have such strong faith for other peoples circumstances and so little for your own? It's kind of sad. I read so many Bible verses regarding living in fear and such, but they went in one ear and out the other.
The surgeon and her nurse were two of the most amazing ladies I have ever met! They were encouraging, sweet and comforting. I was very honest about my fears and concerns. They did give the typical "At your age and with no history, your chances of breast cancer are extremely slim." but they understood my fears as well. Turns out what I was feeling was just dense breast tissue. But within that all physicians felt a lump. I was pretty certain it was the cyst I've had, but I wanted to be sure. Everything about the way it felt and looked was a textbook cyst, but the doctor was more than willing to aspirate it and send it to pathology to ease my mind. I left her office with a 99.9% comfort level, but was waiting on pathology to be certain. They called me yesterday afternoon to confirm all was completely negative. Praise the Lord!
I had just had my annual exam in July. I've had two previous ultrasounds. Chances were that if this had been cancer that we would have been so early. Here's the thing ladies, get regular check ups. In the middle of those, do monthly breast exams. While finding a lump is one of the scariest things I've ever done, I imagine breast cancer would be a lot scarier!
I painted the dining room on Sunday, which looks great by the way, and when I got home I was SO sore. In the midst of rubbing and soothing my sore arms, back and chest muscles, I found a mass in my breast. I've had a cyst in my right breast that I found while breast feeding Amelia. I've always been told it was a fluid filled cyst and we are fine. I have been ok with it living there because I hate needles. What I felt on Sunday was completely different. It was larger and more of a mass.
I'm not sure how many of you reading this have breastfed babies and I'm not sure what your results were, but this Mama fed two babies and I now have A cup boobs. It's terrible! I do still buy B cup bras because a 34 year old woman should have nothing to do with an A cup bra. It's just not happening! Point being is that while I proudly wear my sad little sacks of womanhood, they allow me to feel everything inside them. I found myself doing self breast exams multiple times a week because I feel so many bumps and lumps.
In my hysteria I had a friend feel my breast and on Monday morning I called my doctor. Tuesday afternoon my doctor said "Let's get it checked out and I'm just going to send you to a surgeon if you are ok with that. She can get you in ASAP and if the ultrasound on your breast warrants a biopsy she can do it right then." What?! Listen friends, if you want to freak this girl out put the word surgeon and ASAP on my medical chart. I had an appointment for the next week, but called in my drama queen tone and had it moved up to this Thursday. Between Tuesday and Thursday I spent my time googling to find out the chances of me having breast cancer (which is the quickest way to make yourself think you are dying), calling my Mom to hear every single detail of how everything happened when she had a fibrous cyst, peppering my Mother-in-Law, who is a breast cancer survivor, of her thoughts and calling/texting/emailing a very small circle of friends to pray for me because my faith was just not strong enough.
Why is it that you have such strong faith for other peoples circumstances and so little for your own? It's kind of sad. I read so many Bible verses regarding living in fear and such, but they went in one ear and out the other.
The surgeon and her nurse were two of the most amazing ladies I have ever met! They were encouraging, sweet and comforting. I was very honest about my fears and concerns. They did give the typical "At your age and with no history, your chances of breast cancer are extremely slim." but they understood my fears as well. Turns out what I was feeling was just dense breast tissue. But within that all physicians felt a lump. I was pretty certain it was the cyst I've had, but I wanted to be sure. Everything about the way it felt and looked was a textbook cyst, but the doctor was more than willing to aspirate it and send it to pathology to ease my mind. I left her office with a 99.9% comfort level, but was waiting on pathology to be certain. They called me yesterday afternoon to confirm all was completely negative. Praise the Lord!
I had just had my annual exam in July. I've had two previous ultrasounds. Chances were that if this had been cancer that we would have been so early. Here's the thing ladies, get regular check ups. In the middle of those, do monthly breast exams. While finding a lump is one of the scariest things I've ever done, I imagine breast cancer would be a lot scarier!
When Amelia saw me change my clothes she asked why I had a boo-boo on my booby. I told her it was from a check-up (since we are obsessed with Doc McStuffins that was good enough for her). I wore my band-aid and sore booby proudly for 24 hrs. It was just another reminder of how much I love the people around me. If you don't want to get check-ups for yourself, do it for those that love you.
In other news... we are moved in to the Ponderosa! We have been here since Thursday and love it! There is still some (a lot) of work to do, but it is so homey and we love it!
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