Tests, tests, and more tests

I had the mammogram on October 11. After the mammogram, I had an ultrasound. I had to wait a long time for the radiologist to come and talk to me after the tests and for her to do her own ultrasound. I think I laid on that ultrasound table for an hour waiting. They gave me an extra blanket since it is so cold in there.

The radiologist focused on my left breast and then said that she didn't think that whatever she was looking at on my left side was cancer. But then sort of matter-of-fact, as an after thought said, well, you have to get a biopsy. You have large lumps on your right side and your lymph nodes are very suspicious. And then she just looked at me and said, do you have any questions for me? And after each one she would repeat, do you have any other questions for me? It was so odd. The tech had made a reference to the radiologist taking a long time because she was "getting yelled at" by a surgeon. She looked like she had been yelled at. I wanted to give her a hug.

Before leaving, I scheduled my biopsy for Friday, October 14. The next morning when I woke up, I had a voicemail from Dr. Ahmed. She said that she received my mammogram results and that she was glad that I had scheduled the biopsy and to call if I wanted to talk. This seemed odd to me until I was at work and able to access my chart. I had no idea what this meant but I knew that it could't be good. "ACR BI-RADS Category 5 - Highly Suggestive of Malignancy" I showed Seth when I got home from work and he said that it was probably just a category so that insurance would cover it. No, it means that there is about a 90% chance that it is cancer. Six means it definitely is cancer. Google is not your friend when it comes to this stuff.

So, I waited for a painful test to confirm that I had cancer. Tick tock. Tick tock. I would be lucky in those days if I slept from about 9-3 am. Some days it was about 9-1 am. A biopsy is about as pleasant as you would imagine. First I was injected twice with lidocaine--one shot close to the surface and then one shot that goes much deeper. Then I had a core needle biopsy. (They don't let you see the needle. They make you turn away and then cover the area with a sheet so you can't see it go in. I suspect it is better this way.) Then they injected me with markers so they could determine where the sample had come from. These stay inside you unless they get removed during a lumpectomy or mastectomy. They did this in my lymph node and then my breast. Both on my right side. They didn't test my left because they said that they didn't like to do both sides at the same time. 

It takes two business days to get the results. Since my biopsy was on a Friday, I had to wait until Tuesday. 

I couldn't take any ibuprofen in the days leading up to the biopsy so when I got home, I drank whiskey and took ibuprofen. And waited. Oh, and I started to panic.