Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Chicken Littles or "The Art of Being Cautious"

Last Monday's visit offered up a bit of a surprise.  After my repeat mammogram (a rescan due to questions that arose in November in my healthy breast), my new oncologist (who seemed to have no idea why I was there or seeing her), told me that I needed a biopsy.  That there were "calcifications" that we needed to investigate.

Dang it!

Apparently before you have cancer, you have calcifications, so finding them and identifying them means a really good chance of finding cancer at its earliest stage.  So I was reappointed with imaging in a week.

Yesterday was my appointment for a stereotactic biopsy.  Yeah.  Google that.  The pictures alone are worth the price of admission.  But if you're one of those squeamish types (and what are you doing HERE????), I'll just describe it:  It's a table with a hole in it .. that you get on via a LADDER (because it goes up in the air), and your boobie goes thru the hole (no kidding) .. and below the table is the radiologist and her team (yes .. TEAM) who adjust your boobie and basically do low-grade mammogram imaging.  I say "low-grade" because the compression is very slight compared to regular mammograms.  

Found this image online and it wasn't
too graphic, so I've included it. 


The idea is that they image you, find the suspicious spot, then make an incision and shoot the core biopsy needle into the spot to withdraw tissue for examination.   I was warned about pain even though they use a local, lots of pressure and potential bleeding.  When the procedure is complete, they bind you up with an ice pack and order you to take it easy for 24 hours.  

Well, we didn't get much past putting the boobie in the table hole. Right off the bat, the radiologist determined that what they were looking at was skin surface level -- and likely scar tissue. 

Just to be on the safe side, they lowered the table, let me climb down and we went to another room for a 3D mammogram (didn't know there was such a thing!)  That image confirmed that the area of calcification was indeed scarring from my reduction 3 years ago.

Dodged a(nother) bullet.  This is my third biopsy in two years and every time it unnerves me.

Doctor says I'm good for a year with regard to imaging.  She apologized for having me drive 6 hours (round trip) but I told her I was happy to if it involved an "all clear". 

I'm grateful they are taking such good care of me.  And I'm grateful for the technology that allows them to see the tiniest of irregularities.  But mostly, I am grateful that - for now, at least - I can continue to say I am cancer free.


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