It's time for your mammogram

 Jim's work has a nice little kickback through the insurance plan we are on. First more monthly fee, all we have to do is have each member in the family have an annual checkup or get an immunization. And the insurance will kick back $150 per person. Sounds pretty great, especially considering there were eight people in our family when we started this! 

December 20, 2024- Jim and I went in for our annual physicals. Everything was great, we answered all the questions correctly, came home feeling like a million bucks. Both of us were the picture of perfect health.. They did tell me I was due for my annual mammogram, so I thought, why not?? I'll get it scheduled. We then went home and filled out the paperwork to receive our $150 per person. Score!!

January 23, 2025- went in for my mammogram. These things are never fun.  I'd lost close to 40 lbs in the past year and a half.. and we all know that most of the tissue in our breasts are fat.. so that was one area I had definitely seen some weight loss. And, after birthing seven children, the tortures and trials of breastfeeding had also taken a toll on my breasts. They were shrunken, deflated, and didn't even fill out my smaller bras anymore. I was around a size A/B. Sports bras flatten me out pretty good, and not wearing a bra at all left me basically showing my rib cage with a small mound hanging much lower than it should. So the mammogram tech had to really pull and stretch to get any skin in between the plexiglass plates to squeeze and take photos of.

Mammograms are never fun. They're uncomfortable from the moment you open your gown and are asked to turn your head and lift your arm into weird positions. But as uncomfortable as they are, they should not be overly painful..

 The images they took on my left side were pretty much the standard levels of uncomfort. When she moved to the right side, there was a little more uncomfortableness than usual. Leading to actual pain. And when she released the machine and we noticed some discharge from my nipple, that was a little concerning too. I thought I'd had some cyst that she had squeezed out. The discharge was a milky creamish light green color, about the size of a pea. She wiped it off with a paper towel and made a note in my chart. After that I was free to get dressed and go along my merry way. Later that night, I received a phone call saying they needed to schedule me back in for a diagnostic mammogram. Not thinking too much of it, I agreed and set up the appointment. I've always been told that I have very dense breast tissue, so I attributed it to the fact that they just couldn't see clearly what they needed to see the first time. 

February 4, 2025- went back in for the diagnostic mammogram. Once again changed into the gown, and sat in the lobby waiting my turn to yet again have my breasts squeezed between the plexiglass. Hoping that this time they would get the images they would need and I wouldn't have to do this for another year or two. When it was my turn, the mammogram tech took me back and asked if I knew why I was here again. She mentioned that the report said there was an area of architectural distortion. I said I don't know what that means, but that I'd always been told that I have very dense breast tissue. She said that's pretty common, that a lot of women have dense breast tissue. Okay then. I again went back into the small room and positioned myself yet again in awkward positions, raising my arm and turning my head allowing the tech to squish and squeeze me into position. Again the left side wasn't so bad, but the right side definitely hurt more. Again, small amount of discharge from my nipple but this time it was a clear-ish brown fluid. Less than before, the size of a very small pea. Notes were made and I was asked to wait out in the waiting area. 

They wanted to refer me for ultrasound which was in the same office. After a little bit of waiting, wondering why I was still here, Ultrasound called me back. Now, my breasts were already sore from being squeezed between the plexiglass plates on the mammogram machine, but Deb, the ultrasound tech, though very kind, made no effort to tread lightly as she pushed the wand over and around all the area of my right breast and armpit. By this time I was definitely feeling sore and slightly annoyed at having to be poked and prodded so much. Deb saw a few areas that seemed to concern her, and said she wanted to bring the radiologist in to take a look with her. Fine, let's get on with it then, I thought. 

Dr Hammond, The radiologist, came in and looked at the screen as Deb again pressed the wand over my breast and into my armpit. They began to discuss the two spots of unusual finding, at 11:00 and 11:30 on my right breast. I wasn't too concerned at this point. Dr Hammond said that we needed to do a biopsy just to check and rule out any suspicious findings there. Well that didn't sound very fun to me. At this point I had  already overstayed the time I'd scheduled for myself and needed to get home because my children were coming home from school. I told him I couldn't stay and wait another hour, but that I could come back after 4:00 when I had a babysitter. Dr Hammond was leaving at 4:00 so he suggested that we schedule for the next week when both he and Deb would be there and could perform the biopsy together. Sure, I thought to myself. Why not? Biopsy was scheduled for the following Tuesday.

I had access to my charts online. When I got home that night, I read the report that the radiologist had written. That's when things started to change in my mind.