And There's a Lump

It was 1986 I was a freshman in high school. The girls were all gathered into a room to have a talk about something called breast cancer. It was awkward. I was awkward. I was still getting to know myself on many levels. Now here we were talking about touching our boobs and checking for lumps. I listened. I read the material given. I was totally weirded out. As I asked friends if they were going to do it. There seemed to be a discomfort. It was easier to talk about dating and those having sex than breast examinations. As I pondered it all I decided to something that would save my life 20 plus years laters. I made it a habit to check my breast in the shower when washing with soap.

Now 2017, It was in the shower doing one of those self-exams that notice something not quite right with my right breast. I start taking notes in my period tracker. Yep, I got a period tracker. My right breast was hurting when I ovulated and then the first 2 days of my period. I noticed that it would become lumpy. Then out of nowhere, a lump was changing. It was tender. Harder to the touch. I got in to see my family Dr. pretty quickly. He sent me for a mammogram.

I went with no expectations other than getting my boob smashed for a few mins. Then I would find out that I have lumpy boobs, like another family member. No big deal. All part of my hormone changes as I start perimenopause. NOPE! NOT THE CASE!

I was ushered after the x-ray to sit and wait in this cute waiting area. There was another woman sitting there. We both sat there with our shields covering our naked boobs while we waited to be seen by the radiologist himself. We made light talk about the changing weather. I was called back to another room. Where I was told I needed to come back for a biopsy the next day. I would be the first biopsy of the morning. There was no mention of cancer. But, in my heart I knew. I was trying to shake it off.

Next morning Chris drove me to have my biopsy. The results would take a few days. I went home to recover. The waiting was hard to do.