I would like to share with you all the importance of doing self-breast exams. This is very important for you to do each month. Here where I live we have a “buddy check 12” that is put out by a local television station. And each month on the 12th we are all reminded to do a self-exam. Because I have done mine, I have a chance to survive “possible” and I said “possible” breast cancer.
However, I also want to share with you all the frustrations of the day when I went to get my test done. In other words I have to wait a little longer to find out if I indeed have breast cancer. Right now I am refusing to think that I do, but I am not stupid enough to not realize that there may be a problem here. This review is more to share with you some of the procedures that I have found out about. And in all honesty, not much thus far. I will come back later, as I am made more known of my situation and share with you all. For now, bear with me on what I have learned and what I have experienced thus far.
A few weeks ago I went for my yearly physical with my OBGYN. The week prior to my appointment I had pain start in my left breast but I could find no lump. During my exam my doctor did find a lump and the pain was being caused from a large massed area, in which I had found but never felt the lump. The lump us centered right in the middle of the mass and does not move.
Of course an appointment was made for a mammogram(11-29-01). When got to the imagining center(one of many in Jacksonville, Fl.) I signed in like any normal person would do. Filled out the necessary paper work and had a seat. I was called to the back within in just a few minutes.
After I had changed into my lovely pink top, the tech came out and called my name. She told me the doctor’s orders were wrong and I would have to reschedule. Since there was a lump, a massed area and pain a normal screening would not do. I had to have a more detailed test. Two of them in fact! One will be a Diagnostic Mammography, bilateral and the other will be a Diagnostic Breast Procedure, a Breast Ultrasound. Both tests will be a detailed report of the lumps found and the massed area.
So, I stood there, looked at her and said, ’Okay!’ I then changed back into my own clothes and left. My doctors office was just across the street, so there is where I went.
I was trying to remember what he had said about the testing several weeks earlier and I know I remembered him telling me I would have to have several test ran. The problem came with his staff. The young lady who filled out the paper work order marked the wrong thing. I had wondered about it several times and finally convinced myself that they knew what they were doing.
Even when the center called to talk with me several times, I told them I had pain, a massed area and a lump. The lady I spoke to both times just made sure I had the doctor’s orders, but never asked me what they were. Again, I didn’t think anything about it and figured they knew what they were doing.
I got the new orders and called from my cell phone while sitting in the parking lot to reschedule the test. I will go back on 12-12-01, if I don’t have to go sooner. In the mean time my doctor has informed me that I am to call him should the mass or lump get larger. If necessary he will check me into the hospital to have the test done. But so far there has not been a great increase in the size of the lump or the massed area. But they both hurt like the dickens though.
The lump in the right breast I can roll around underneath my fingertips. The lump in the left breast won’t budge. The mass area hurts really badly and the left breast will swell. The pain reminds me of how my breast felt after I had children and the pain the milk caused them until the milk went away. You mothers will understand that one!
Sometimes there is no pain, but mostly, every day there is pain. Sometimes there is a burning sensation that goes from left to right across the left breast. The right breast rarely has this burning sensation. But will hurt where the lump is located. There is no discharge as of yet.
I am concerned somewhat about this situation. I am not angry about it though. Frustrated, yes I am that. But I do thank God for the adventure of the day. I know He is control and that He knows what He is doing. We are certainly praying that both lumps and mass will go away or not be cancerous.
I am sure that some of you out there may have had to battle breast cancer, if so, please let me know what you can about this pain and mass area. It may be nothing, but we are going to make sure. So any information will be helpful. And I thank you in advance.
I know with some breast cancer patients there will be no pain until it is almost to late. I am praying that this is not the case. I also know that a common cyst will cause this type of pain. And the caffeine in my coffee may be what is causing the entire situation.
I am dealing with this one-day at a time as well as one step at a time. I trust that all will be okay. And I know that I will handle what ever the outcome may be.
The next time I am in doubt I will certainly call. That is what I should have done in the first place. So this was just as much my fault as it was the doctor’s staff. I will pay more attention to detail in the future.
It is very important to do that self-exam, both men and women. So mark on your calendar the 12th and do an exam that day each month. Breast cancer can kill, but with today’s modern medicines and finding the lumps/mass areas by self-exams you can beat it. You should also know that Breast Cancer kills more women than any other cancer except lung cancer. There are these types of breast cancer: Early: in which the cancer is confined to the ducts or lobules. This type is curable, but cancer cells could have already spread. Invasive: Now this cancer has spread beyond the duct or lobules into surrounding tissue and can be detected by a hard lump and could be the first sign of breast cancer. And lastly Metastatic which is a cancer that has spread to other major parts of the body such as the lungs, liver, lymph nodes, bones or brain.
I don’t know which one I have, if any one at all. But in a few weeks I will know. In the mean time, I am watching what I eat and drink. Trying not to worry. And I keep an eye for any growth of the lumps and massed area.
You should most certainly call your doctor should you find a lump, massed area, clear or bloody discharge from the nipple, a retracted nipple, change in size of your breast, flattening or indentation of skin over and around your breast, and any redness or what is called pitting over your breast(sort of like the skin of an orange.) This is both men and women. Should you find any of these symptoms please don’t wait until later, make that call at once.
Please, take this seriously. Breast Cancer can and does kill.
God Bless!