When it all began...

I turned 30 twelve years ago and have been getting my annual mammograms since that day. Today I am 42 and 4 weeks ago, on 9/25/09 I went for what I thought would be just another normal mammogram day. I was in and out of the Trident Breast Care Center quickly and remember thinking "that went really well". The following Monday I was called and told that they needed to do a diagnostic mammogram on my left side for some better pictures. I went back to the breast care center on 10/7/09 and thought I would only be there for a short time. After they took the diagnostic pictures the doctor requested an ultrasound on my left breast. What they were seeing was a deposit of calcium in a small cluster. After he completed the ultrasound he suggested getting a biopsy done to be "better safe than sorry". My biopsy was scheduled for Thursday 10/15/09. At this point I was starting to wondering what could this be. My primary care physician was very positive about the outlook.

We went back to Trident Breast Care Center for the biopsy. What was supposed to be a relatively quick procedure and morning turned into a horrible experience. First of all the position you must lie in for a lengthy period of time is uncomfortable. You lay on a hard bed with a hole in the middle where your breast hangs through. After you get settled on the bed, a bunch more xrays are taken from different perspectives. The compression of my breast wasn't that terrible but after about 20 pictures I was ready to call it a day. After about 45 minutes of the xray tech not being able to "see" the calcium cluster the doctor came in and wondered what was taking so long. He quickly said "then lets look from a different direction" and they quickly found the cluster. I was a little ticked off that much of the past 45 min could have been avoided. The next step was to get me perfectly still so they could inject the lanacaine numbing medicine. As they were doing that (slight sting, nothing major) I told the people in the room how the last time I needed lanacaine for dental work it took them 7 shots to numb me. Looking back on the day I guess I had hoped the doctor would have picked up on that comment.

A few minutes later they said they were ready to start. Well, simply said, the lanacaine did not fully numb me and it felt like a knife was being shot directly into my breast. It was excruciating. I will not lie...I screamed and began shaking terribly. I remember the doctor saying "she's not numb, get some more lanacaine". They gave me some valium but it still took about 5-10 minutes for me to stop crying and shaking hysterically. They proceeded to give me an entire vile of lanacaine which apparently did the trick. I also remember a nurse saying "you moved and so we have to start again". Heck yea I moved! I apologized to the nurses and doctor for moving and they told me it was not my fault yet they never apologized for the pain they inflicted on me unnecessarily. Apparently there is a standard way to test if someone is numb enough to proceed with the biopsy. They didn't test me to see if I was numb...hence the excruciating pain and physiological response to want to jump off the table!

Ok, so the painful part was done and they completed the biopsy. The doctor confirmed they got a good sample of the tissue and they could begin cleaning the betadine off me and get me bandaged. Before I could leave though they still had to take some post-biopsy films. Thank goodness those were done while I was standing up. I was stiffer than a board after lying in the same position for almost 2 hours. What should have been a "quick" procedure turned into a 4 hour stay at the breast care center.

Throughout this whole ordeal my loving husband was in the waiting room. The nurses continued to visit with him to let him know what was going on. I can only imagine the fear in his mind about not being in the room with me. As soon as I saw him I began crying uncontrollably again. Benton is not only my soul mate and best friend, but he is my rock in bad times. I love him so very much!

The rest of that day is somewhat a blur. I came home, slept for a few hours, and some kind friends brought us dinner. I was beginning to feel very sore at the biopsy sight since the lanacaine was wearing off. Today I still have a large bruise at the sight as a reminder of that horrible day.

The doctor told me before I left that I should have the results of the biopsy by Monday. Let me just say that the waiting game is no fun! I thank the Lord for all the prayers of dear friends & family. Without you, the waiting game would have been much worse!