My return to Maryland after an amazing summer in California was not a happy occasion. California is where my entire extended family lives and where I lived for the first 30 years of my life. I have no family here in Maryland except my children and my estranged father...emphasis on "STRANGE!" I took both my boys, Christian & Jake, to California with me for the summer. I wanted them to experience what it is like to have a close-knit family connection. They have never experienced anything like that, and I feel responsible for cheating them out of a very important part of childhood and life by raising them on the east coast, away from any aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandparents...emphasis on "GREAT!"
The boys meeting all those relatives was awkward in the beginning, but, by August, my boys had bonded with the entire family! They fit right in like they'd been raised there all their lives! :-)
August and September 2011 were filled with so many changes, career and otherwise, that I would need another blog entirely to fill everyone in.
While away, I did receive a notice in the mail from my breast surgeon. It included a referral for a mammogram to be done in November. Nothing was mentioned regarding the multiple cysts discovered the week before I left. I had thought a lot about them during my vacation, and knew I didn't want to aspirate nine of them. That just sounded like a lot of work and discomfort for not much reason other than my comfort. The biopsies on the larger cysts did sound like a good idea to me, just to make sure they weren't malignant.
Nonetheless, I have procrastination down to an art! So, I didn't schedule that mammogram until November, and I never asked the doctor about doing the biopsies. I figured the mammogram would show anything we still needed to address.
The mammogram was to be on the right breast only, due to the issues with it in May. Unfortunately, or luckily, I felt a painful, solid lump in the left breast, again. So, during the mammogram, I requested she check the left breast. She called my surgeon immediately and obtained permission.
Here we go, again! The technician noticed something "suspicious" on the mammogram of the LEFT breast - the one they weren't even going to check! He ordered a sonogram immediately. Nothing was said regarding what he deemed suspicious. No measurements were taken during the sonogram. The right breast with "multiple cysts" was completely disregarded at this point. All focus had shifted to the left breast.
Next thing I knew, they escorted me out and sent me home. "Your doctor will contact you in a few days."
Again, my need-to-know-RIGHT-NOW gene kicked in. I only had one word to go on, which I overheard as they technician spoke with the sonographer - "Calcification."
I spent hours upon hours each night researching breast calcification. 1) There are generally two types of calcifications, and it DOES make a difference which type they see. 2) The previous lumpectomy could definitely cause the larger calcifications found in areas of healed wounds or incisions that aren't a cause for concern or further investigation. 3) Microcalcifications found in an organized shape CAN be a sign of cancer.
I went for my results from the lab before the doctor ever contacted me. Again, I researched everything written in the lab report. The report stated that mine were microcalcifications, not related to the previous lumpectomy. :-( A STEREOTACTIC biopsy was recommended. No, there's a new word to look up!
A stereotactic biopsy is a very odd, unpleasant procedure! A man had to have been the one to come up with this crazy contraption! If you google images of this you will see what I mean! The woman lays on a table, face down, with her breasts hanging through a hole in the table. The hole in this table was so large that I had to hold myself up in an awkward way, so as not to fall through. While balancing myself over this hole, the technician squeezes what little breast tissue I have between two flat acrylic plates to compress the breast and hold it still while they cut chunks out with a long biopsy tube/knife. During the procedure, they are using an x-ray to see the inside and make sure they are sampling the right area. This procedure is long, for having to hold that position over the hole. You can't see what they are doing under the table at all, at least not in the lab I went to, and your breast is numb. You only feel the "tug" going on while they pull the sample tube in and out.
I had considerable trouble obtaining these results, as the doctor really wanted to meet with me and interpret them together. The problem is that they always have a tight schedule, and can't fit me in for at least a week.
Time to wait another 3 days for the lab results! Waiting, waiting, waiting... YUK!!! I hate waiting!
I picked up my results, and began the research. This lab report was the most complex I'd ever seen. At least 2 out of every 3 words were complicated, medical gobbledygook, that made no sense to me. Nonetheless, i was determined to decipher these results as soon as possible.
The phrase that seemed the most important throughout - atypical hyperplasia - was all over the Internet. The problem was the location of the atypical hyperplasia. "Columnar" was nowhere to be found, at least not phrased with the other scientific words in my report. Atypical Hyperplasia is basically cells dividing, multiplying, building up in an unusual (atypical) way, in larger than normal amounts. This atypical hyperplasia is sometimes a sign that the cells are "getting ready" to morph into cancer.
Atypical HyperplasiaIn my mind, I immediately started trying to create visuals of this. The mucous commercial for Mucinex came to mind. Remember the one with the little green talking cartoon guys setting up their home in someone's nasal passage? If I were an artist, I could really have created some cool illustrations. The pictures in my head were actually pretty funny and at least brought a sense of humor to my thoughts regarding all this craziness.
I imagined little bug like cell creatures setting up for a grand party, hanging streamers and a banner that read "WELCOME HOME CANCER!" and throwing shiny metallic confetti around the room!
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