Journal
Today marks one week and two days since I received a diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma. My journey started when my gynecologist nurse practitioner found a lump in my right breast. This was in 2016.I was in the process of going through divorce which was difficult enough. After finding the lump I was sent for mammogram and an ultrasound. I remember sitting in the waiting room with my gown on waiting to be called back and the fear I had. I remember them telling me it was likely a Fibroadenoma which was very common and not dangerous.Despite this I opted for a biopsy. Once the biopsy was done it took approximately 3 to 4 days before I had the results. These results revealed I had a tumor however it was not cancerous. I was referred to see a breast surgeon. The name of the tumor was Phyllodes tumor. I was informed it needed to come out because it was an aggressive growing tumor and would grow to grotesque sizes. I remember thinking I wanted both of my breasts removed at that time however my breast surgeon said that was not an option. I had a lumpectomy. Because this type of tumor was not common and had high likelihood of re-growing if any cell was left behind I had to follow with the breast surgeon every six months with mammograms and ultrasound. Along the way I kept up with my self checks and found a few other lumps. I went through a few more biopsies only to find out they were fibroadenomas. I was always told I had dense breast tissue. Apparently this is a problem when trying to read The mammogram because most of the tissue was all white making it difficult to see any abnormalities. My breast surgeons office had recommended I go through a test called ABUS. From what I understood it was a high definition ultrasound for women with dense breast tissue. I decided to opt for this test with this last routine testing. My mammogram came back normal no sign of tumor. The new test however showed I had an abnormality. It was recommended I get an ultrasound over the area by a radiologist. I had to wait a few weeks for this test. For some reason I knew in the back of my mind I had breast cancer. Finally the day came when I got my ultrasound. I saw the look on my radiologist face and I automatically knew this was not good news. She then ultrasound it my armpit. Being in the medical field I automatically knew she was looking for a lymph node involvement. She finally told me she didn’t like the looks of things and recommended a biopsy. I was fortunate enough to get that biopsy the same day. This happened to be on a Friday. That literally was the longest weekend of my life as my results did not come in until the following Tuesday. I got the phone call at 10:30 AM. I was actually in a patient’s room when the phone rang. Anxiously awaiting his phone call I excused myself and stepped out of the room. The voice on the other end said “is this a good time to talk?“ I said sure go ahead and this other person proceeded to tell me she did not have good news.I felt I already knew she was going to say that. Her next words were you have breast cancer. The biopsy came back as invasive ductal carcinoma.
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