It was a lump. Maybe just over an inch in any direction. It's been there for years, long enough I've lost count of how many. It started much smaller, then grew, and once it got to certain size, seemed to stop growing, just sat there. Not that I measured it to check, mind you. It was just there.
Eventually though, odd lumps do impinge on one's awareness. I decided to bring it up on my last annual physical, particularly now that I have a primary who actually seems to care if I'm well and not just how often I show up. He decided it needed further evaluation. Since it was time for a mammogram, he sent me for both tests. It sits in an armpit, so he made a possible connection that it could be something which had spread into a lymph node.
It's now been nearly two months filled with tests - not constant, since they get delayed by availability of appointments. It's not just my schedule that's been busy. It seems that snowbirds are returning and anxious to get everything medical done before a new calendar year with deductibles starting all over again. And of course, once tests are done, it takes a few days for the results to get to my primary and for him to call me with results and a recommendation for whatever the next level is. In the case of the lump, there was an ultrasound. It was indeterminate, but suspicious enough that a biopsy was recommended. Oddly, that was also to be performed during ultrasound - I suppose to get the right kind of samples from the right spots.
I decided not to mention the upcoming biopsy to Steve for a few days, This was when he was getting his cataracts removed. There didn't seem any point to add to the anxiety he was feeling before his first one since the biopsy was another few weeks down my road. And no, I wasn't anxious for myself, although the very word "biopsy" does give one pause.
During this wait, there was also a pair of referrals to other clinics. One was an oncology clinic. When they call you about setting up an appointment there is a full list of questions about your family health history they go through. Any parent have cancer? Sure. Start with both getting skin cancer. Back then nobody stayed out of the sun and there was no UVA and UVB protection cream. Both had small facial spots removed, neither scary. Daddy had a cancerous colon polyp removed. Again no follow up required. Then the $64,000 question: any breast cancer? Yep.
I always want to write that with an asterisk. Mom was about 85 at the time, and had a doctor who kept her on a dosage of hormone replacement therapy so strong that she was still having periods then! Or as I said to this interviewer, I believe her experience was manipulated. She though that was an interesting description, after she recovered from the shock of the level of HRT Mom received. Anyway, we set up an appointment for me there for next week, after today's biopsy was done and reviewed.
This was another one of those appointments where one is not allowed to use deodorants or powders ahead of time, since they were also planning on another mammogram. No biggie. The worst is the need for me to keep my arm lifted high for the duration, likely 10 minutes, without any aspirin or ibuprofin for several days ahead of time in case of bleeding. With my rotator cuffs, that's unremitting pain for the duration. I wasn't concerned about what they might find. Steve by now had been informed of the reason for this appointment, and asked whether he should be concerned. I told him I wasn't, except for the shoulder.
The odd thing as I walked in to the changing room was I was informed that there might not even be a biopsy today. They now were fairly sure this was no tumor but a sebaceous cyst, meaning a skin gland had backed up with skin oils which had turned fairly solid. If the second ultrasound verified that, there was no way they were going to puncture it. Those solid oils were not too solid to leak out from any hole into surrounding tissue and create mild havoc. Nothing really serious, nothing they'd have to treat, but it could cause discomfort - or not perhaps - but medically it just wasn't to be done, causing harm with no benefit.
But just in case... I listened to two minutes of what was going to happen if it wasn't a cyst, detail by detail by detail. One thing was they would also insert a pair of markers in the adjacent breast, each the size of a piece of glitter, which would show up in future imaging. Afterwards they would have to push on my breast for two to five minutes to prevent bleeding. Oooooooo kay.
As carefully and helpfully as they handled my shoulder during the ultrasound, it was just as unpleasant as I anticipated. The tech was taking extra images to try to prove I had a cyst. She commented she thought she had seen it once but couldn't duplicate it (it moved?), but eventually seemed satisfied. I had to ask her for assistance in bringing my arm back down by then. She also offered to provide me with a new face mask since the gel they use had coated one side of the one I wore in. I let her know I'd already worn that one dozens of times, which reinforced her determination to bring me a new one.
But now I was to wait on that table while the expert came in to read the latest images. She was fully satisfied that my lump is a sebaceous cyst, and there would be no biopsy today. I might get a recommendation to follow it more frequently in case of changes, especially if my primary decided I should still follow through with the oncology appointment next week for a second opinion. He'll have the report later today, so call him Monday and ask.
I had learned one more interesting thing. While waiting for her to show up, I spent my time massaging my shoulder. So long as I kept it up, it eased the pain. By the time I was dressed and walking out, it felt almost as if the procedure hadn't happened. Saved me a run to the store to buy a new bottle of ibuprofin to replace the one that had just disappeared from my car this morning. I know because I'd looked for it before heading in to the appointment, figuring I could take it right then, it would be too early to interfere with any posible clotting but still take effect for the pain just when I really needed it.
Yeah, I would have done that.
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