A scary breast cancer story with a good ending.

I have fiber cystic breast disease, so I am accustomed to breast pain. I woke up one morning with a different kind of pain. My left breast was red and swollen. It frightened me so I contacted my doctor and was able to see me that morning. She was alarmed by what she saw and scheduled me for a mammogram and sonogram. As a precaution, in case it was a mastitis, she prescribed antibiotics to be taken four times a day. She gave me the name and number of a top surgeon and told me to make an appointment.

Both the mammography tech and the sonogram tech were disturbed by the images. Afterward, the radiologist came in and told me that it was probably a very bad infection, but I should see the surgeon just in case. I was able to get an appointment with him the next day. He examined me and wanted to do an MRI and biopsy right away. I had other priorities. My mother had been in the hospital and I was leaving the next day to fly to Texas to settle her back at home. We scheduled the MRI for the Tuesday after I returned home.

While at my mother’s the infection got better with the antibiotics, but returned with a vengeance after I finished them. I called and requested a refill and resumed the treatment. The largest lump seemed to go down, but the redness and tenderness remained. A large solid mass developed under my nipple.

I returned home on Friday and went for a desert hike on Saturday. There was no way I was going to miss that hike. It was awesome.

On Tuesday, my husband went with me for the MRI. The results were disturbing, so I was sent for a sonogram guided biopsy. Because my breast was so tender it was a horrible experience for me. I understood that they were doing the best they could. I could barely tolerate the pressure of the sonogram wand. They had problems numbing my breast. I am resistant to lidocaine, as is my mother and my daughter. It took a long time to get me numb, the needle pain was excruciating. They entered trough the left side of my left breast to take samples from the right side. This way they could avoid blood vessels and prevent further problems with bleeding. He warned me that the needle was very long and we were working close to my lungs. A wrong move and my lung could be pierced. I held as still as possible as he worked the needle in, injecting the lidocaine as he went. When they were going under the nipple, the pain was so intense that I screamed. I kept my jaw clenched and my lips together, so the sound wasn’t loud but I couldn’t control my body as it quivered involuntarily. The doctor quickly pulled the needle out. He was very upset. I had tears running into my ears. We calmed down and tried again. He inserted the wire and took a sample and placed a titanium marker so they would know where the biopsy had been taken. There was no bleeding, so they were able to glue it shut and start the second biopsy and placement of the marker. It went better as it was at the 9:00 position and I knew what to expect. They also biopsied two lymph nodes which were not painful. I came out with three holes in my left breast.

I had to wait the weekend to get the results. My doctor called me Monday morning and told me that there was no cancer in the lymph nodes or my breast, but looking at the images it was clear that something wasn’t right. The images clearly showed cancer. He sent my results to three different pathologists who agreed that the MRI as well as the mammogram and sonogram showed positive for inflammatory breast cancer. They recommended an MRI guided biopsy. Two days later, I was back. I was terrified of another biopsy. I told the attending doctor about my resistance to lidocaine. He told me they were prepared and understood. He would do the best he could to numb me without sending me into seizures. Oh yea.

They put an IV in my arm for the contrast material. I was laying on my stomach in the MRI machine with my left breast hanging through an opening. They explained the procedure to me. There would be an MRI scan to locate the area to be biopsied. They would then gently clamp my breast between a plate and a grid to map the biopsy location. They would numb me while they were inserting a straw which would guide the instrument to the spot indicated on the MRI. When the straw was in place they did another MRI to check the location. The instrument was inserted trough the straw and they took the samples, placed a marker and applied pressure to the opening. There was quite a bit of bleeding but compared to the first biopsies, this one was a picnic.

The next morning my doctor called with the good news that they were confident there was absolutely no cancer.

Now to figure out how this infection happened. The surgeon believes that I suffered an injury to my breast and ruptured a cyst. The fluid caused a raging infection and inflammation. I had a vague memory of injuring my breast but I wasn’t sure.

All you female athletes know, if it isn’t bleeding and if we can still get up and run we will put aside pain and keep going. I think that is what I did. I have a vague memory of being hit in the breast while on a hike. I do remember the pain. I do remember wondering if it did any damage. I don’t remember if I was accidentally kicked or if it was an elbow or a rock. I remember that I was intent to keep up with the group as we were climbing up a ravine.

Through it all I started thinking of all the things I had to get done before I got too sick to do them. I cleared out all my junk and called AmVets. I sorted papers and got started on the taxes. I decided I wanted my ashes scattered in the desert.

I feel as if I’ve been given a new life.