On Wednesday, October 6th I discovered a lump in my left breast. My GYN saw me on Thursday and set up a mammogram and ultrasound on Monday the 11th.
On Monday, during my ultrasound the doctor came in and said he was worried about two spots, the lump I found, and a lymph node (also on my left breast). A contrast mammogram, followed by an ultrasound guided biopsy was scheduled for Thursday, the 14th. The official report stated I had two spots that were “highly suggestive of malignancy”
On the 14th, after the contrast mammogram I was told they found another spot. When trying to locate this spot using ultrasound, they were unable to do see it (thank you super dense breasts). This meant that I would need to go back on Monday, the 18th for a mammogram guided biopsy.
While getting the biopsy of the two original spots, the doctor let me know that she would get the results back as soon as possible so I could get scheduled with a surgeon. She stated “even if the lump (main one I found), comes back as benign, it will need surgery to be removed….. but it won’t come back benign”.
Both the radiologist (from Austin Breast Imagining), and my wonderful GYN emphasized time will be essential in all of this. True to her word, the radiologist called at lunch on Friday the 15th to inform me that the lump was in fact cancer. When I asked her about the lymph node, she was hesitant to say no cancer. She just said “as of right now, it is not showing as cancer, but that doesn’t mean it won’t show it later”
My GYN is working hard to get me scheduled with a surgeon the week of the 18th. It will however have to be on Wednesday afternoon or later, due to needing the results from the 3rd biopsy on Monday.
So right now, we will take the no cancer in lymph node and rejoice! We will take the cancer news, and be proactive. We will mourn, we will be sad, angry, confused, and at times numb. God has always been faithful, and my health has been no exception. I do not know what surgery will look, if there will be radiation and/or chemotherapy, all of those things will come to light in the next week or two, and we will update as we know. Until then, I will find comfort in my Lord that he loves me, and I will be still and know that he is God.
Future journal entries will/might be coming from Rachel Booth Smith (my sister) or Jeff Svadlenak (the hubby).
