Results

Content includes images of my breast- the amount is nothing more than my swimsuit would show.

On Aug 22, I went in for my Second Biopsy, The days leading up all I could feel was disheartened.

disheartened- to depress the hope, courage, or spirits of; discourage.

This is the breast that I spoke of in my last blog.

I got a call that I have a condition called DCIS on my left breast, covering more than half. Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is the presence of abnormal cells inside a milk duct in the breast. DCIS is considered the earliest form of breast cancer. DCIS is noninvasive, meaning it hasn’t spread out of the milk duct to invade other parts of the breast. (blog titled BRCA)

But before I get into my Second Biopsy results I wanted to share with you about my first one.

I never truly touched base on how I felt about the first (Ultrasound guided) biopsy on my RIGHT breast.  I had a fellow and a resident perform it in front of the doctor, while awake, watching the monitor. What could possibly go wrong? It should have been 3 samples, 6 samples later they got what they needed. The only way I can explain it is a needle touches right under the skin then before I know it the needle loudly shoots into the mass and back out, my mass was against my chest wall. They kept missing and re-guiding the needle while it was in my breast tissue, to say the least I needed Lidocaine administered two more times before the doctor decided to just take over.

I felt vulnerable entering the office, and I felt violated leaving the office.

First Biopsy- Benign. Thank God!

Aug 22,2017

MRI Guided Biopsy via Core Needle and Vacuum Assistance.

Left Breast.

disheartened.

My spirits were crushed from my experience of the first biopsy, my courage was withdrawn.

I spoke with the doctor before hand and requested the students just watch rather than perform. Without hesitation she said she would do whatever I wanted. The nurse in the room congratulated me on finding my voice so early in this Journey.

The biopsy began first with me laying on my tummy while finding the best location to take samples from, that was done by an MRI scan My Breast was placed in paddles with grids and holes, the paddles were to keep my breast in place, the grid was like a map and the holes were for the needle. After they found the area they wanted to sample they took me out of the MRI machine to place the needle, and then put me back in the MRI  machine with the needle placed in the grid, this made sure the needle in the right spot.

The doctor didn’t go light on the Liodocaine so thankfully I didn’t feel anything, other than pressure. The sounds startled me the most. It was a large needle with a suction on it like a vacuum. It sounded and the pressure felt as if the needle was a drill. The biopsy itself took about 10 min and I bled quite a bit.

When the biopsy was finished, the nurse had to apply immense pressure to try and prevent a hematoma- a solid swelling of clotted blood within the tissues caused by trauma to the breast.

By the time we got home, I had a plum ball sized hematoma.

I have to give it a couple more weeks to go away, if it doesn’t then I could get it drained or deal with it depending on when surgery is scheduled. It is intensely painful and is causing a great deal of discoloration.

My Results concluded that I do in fact have non-invasive Breast Cancer in my left Breast. The good thing is we have caught it at Stage 0 which means it is still considered Benign. If I chose not to go through with the Mastectomy then we would talk other options.

Taking it day by day!

Thank you all for your prayers.