So far turning 35 has not been what I expected. I had to wait till I was 35 to get my first mammogram. Because of my family history of breast cancer (my mom and also my mom's sister who passed away from the disease after a very courageous 11 year battle last year) the Dr. wanted me to get one sooner than later to get my baseline. So 2 days after my birthday I had one. It really wasn't as bad as I thought, actually it wasn't bad at all. They said I would get a call in the next few days or so with the results. I wasn't really worried or expecting any negative results. Imagine my horror when they called the next day and said they wanted to see me again...that AFTERNOON! They wanted to do more mammograms and then do a breast ultrasound. You could have knocked me over with a feather. This time they wanted to see me at the hospital instead of the medical center.
Jared was so sweet to meet me at the hospital. I did not get the good news I was hoping for, that everything was great and no further tests were needed. After many more tests, the Dr. concluded that the only way to know what the masses in my breasts were was to do a needle biopsy in BOTH breasts. Since he was unable to even find one of the "masses" with the ultrasound they decided the best way was to do a mammatone biopsy. Which is basically where you lie on your stomach and stick your breast through a hole on the table and the needle for the biopsy is guided to the mass with the help of a mammogram machine. I truly freaked out! I don't like needles period (and anyone who knows me knows that is an understatement) and to have one there...NO THANKS! Plus I had seen them do a needle biopsy on my mom when she had her breast cancer. No way was I wanting this done...that needle seemed HUGE! OUCH!!! Knowing there was no way to not go through with this we made an appointment for the next morning to do the biopsies.
On my way home I could barely concentrate on driving. I did manage to concentrate enough to call my regular doctor about 5 times in an hour to see if he had sent over a prescription for something to calm me down. Yes I was totally scared. But not for the reason you would think. I wasn't so much scared about these lumps being cancer as I was scared about the needles going in them to find out. I figured there was no way I could lie there still knowing there was a huge needle I couldn't see going into somewhere needles shouldn't go normally. Thankfully he came through and prescribed something great that helped take the edge off.
On the day of the biopsies I was told that I would go in alone and would see Jared at the end of the procedure. About 2 hours. I wasn't away from him for 5 minutes and the nurse went and got him. I must have really been in bad shape! I feel so lucky he was able to be right by my side the whole time. He just had to wear a lead vest because of all the radiation from the mammograms. He even took pictures for me...which sounds gross but I love medical stuff (only it is way better if it is not happening to me or my loved ones)! I now have 1 scar on each breast but I think they will serve as reminders of how lucky and fortunate I was.
The next day I was able to call the hospital and find out my results. It was a Saturday and I was so grateful I didn't have to wait until Monday to find out. All the results were negative for cancer. I was so relieved. As scary as this whole experience was I am so glad I did the biopsies to find out once and for all these lumps were NOT CANCER. Those were some of the best words I think I have ever heard.
Maybe being 35 won't be so bad after all. It could have been way worse! Lets hope the rest of this year is a little smoother than the first 5 days!
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