Two months before my 44th birthday the doctor discovered an lump in my left breast during my annual check-up.
Needless to say this was a shock. It hadn't been even a full year since my last clean mammogram. When I called for an appointment to schedule for a new mammogram I had to ask for it to be moved forward because the doctor had found a lump. The mammogram seemed to be clear at first. I was told that because we had found a lump and the mammogram was inconclusive I needed to have an ultrasound done on the lump. No big deal. People have cysts all the time, right? So off to a new room for a different kind of test.
There is something very foreboding in the silence that ensues as the tech captures image after image of 'the lump'. She must have realized how scared I was getting. She told me that it wasn't a cyst but a solid mass and that she needed to have a doctor look at the images. More waiting. Now I actually see a Doctor. We need an ultrasound guided biopsy of the lump. No problem, off to a third exam room. The Doctor numbs the area and tried to take a biopsy. Tried because she couldn't get the needle through the dense fibrous tissue of my breast. After the second needle is finally forced through the tissue she takes 7 samples to send to the lab. Normally this would now be the time to place a titanium marker to pinpoint the biopsy site, but the pathway was lost and after bending the needle the doctor decided we could skip this step.
