The Discovery...

I've been asked, "Who found the lump?"

I first discovered the lump around the end of January, while taking a shower. I knew that I should call the doctor, but with so many things on my mind, I forgot about it. I'm not sure if it was ADD or overload, but it's pretty crazy that I would forget about it. About two weeks later, I felt it again, and immediately telephoned for an appointment with my physician's assistant. ( I'm not too thrilled with my primary care doctor, Dr. Ego, so I won't see him, only his very capable PAs.) The PA made an appointment for the very next day at the Breast Center.

At this point, I was not too concerned because I've had lumps and bumps before, and they have gone away on their own. However, this size of the lump was a little concerning.

The next day I had a mammogram and an ultrasound. My last clear mammogram was June 2006.

The day of the mammo and ultrasound, I met the young doctor who will be my surgeon. I like her very much. She appears very intelligent and funny. She did the biopsy, and was worried about me being able to drive home afterward, for fear that I get queezy over procedures like this one. She confessed that she passes out or gets woozy at the sight of her own blood! I asked her to assure me that she doesn't have this same rections with patients. She laughed and said of course not, with the exceptions of breast biopsies! I haven't thought of a good nickname for my surgeon.
The reason for the biopsy was the "suspicious" looking mamogram and ultrasound...back to that awful 10-letter word "suspicious."

The cancer is 3.5cm across, about the size of a golfball... I'm a terrible golfer! However, my golf clubs have the Pink Ribbon logo on the club heads - I know, you are probably asking how could I miss something so big - I ask myself the same, but don't dwell on it. I don't know how fast it grew, how long it's been there, but am hoping to find some answers to these questions next week. I guess, at this point, it really doesn't matter how fast or how long- the cow is already out of the barn. Mooooooo