What's up, doc

Let me start by saying that the BJH Breast Health Center is a top-notch facility. Efficiency, intelligence and kindness overflow from the folks who work there, from the administration to the docs.

Constant, light pain is what prompted me to see them. For three months my right nipple has been sore. I made an appt to see my OB/GYN and while everything looked okay from the outside, she said I needed to get a mammogram and ultrasound ASAP to rule anything out.
The Breast Health Center got me in the very next day (today).

Last night I wasn't sweating the situation, but this morning was a whole different story. Everything I saw and heard, every corner I turned I connected with bad news/breast cancer/death. I think this is a normal reaction to anyone who feels as if they're about to face their mortality head-on.

They started with a bi-lateral mammogram, which didn't hurt at all, just mild discomfort. They then told me to sit in the waiting room while the radiologist viewed the pics. After about 10 minutes they called me back in for a whole new set of very painful squish pics of just my right breast - seven in all. Ouch!! That smarted for awhile, and got me thinking that having a second round wasn't a good sign.

Then they brought me in for an ultrasound, which was done by a resident. Light pressure, easy peasy, he said he didn't see anything but some asymmetry in the glands. He went and got the main physician, who used a lot of pressure for quite a while, going over and over the same area. She called another doc in to look, and then they left the room.

A couple minutes later the resident came in to tell me that they saw some asymmetry in the glands in the right breast, but nothing that looks bad. Since I don't know my family history or have any previous tests to use as a baseline, they want me back in six months for another diagnostic mamm and ultrasound to rule anything out. If the nipple pain gets worse or I see any discharge, skin changes or feel any difference (lumps) in the next six months, they told me to come back in before my appt.

So it would seem I have been given a reprieve - a free six-month pass.

I'll take it.

I'm glad I went in, as scary as the whole experience was. Better to know than not, right?

Now time to get busy fulfilling some promises I made to others and to myself over the last 24 hours while waiting for this experience to be over.