The Gang's All Here!

The Gang's All Here!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Breasts Behaving Badly

Steve and I went to my appointment with the breast surgeon on Thursday morning. It is safe to say that it was the longest doctor appointment ever. We were there for over 5 hours! It was an interesting experience that included a mammogram, ultrasound and another biopsy. I was youngest patient in the office by about 20 years and definitely got some looks from the other patients. I wanted to scream, "I have breast cancer, that's why I'm here!!". Of course I didn't, but I think it would have been kind of awesome if I did...

The tech doing the mammomgram was funny. She kept checking to make sure she wasn't hurting me with the positioning. It didn't hurt at all, it was maybe a little uncomfortable, but certainly not painful. She then proceeded to tell me that some women would tell her that the mammogram was more painful than labor. It took me a second or two before I said, "WHAT?!?!". She started laughing and told me that she had to step out of the room when they said that. I remember my labor with Simon vividly and I was in an incredible amount of pain even with the epidural!!

After my mammogram and ultrasound I met with the breast surgeon. I had heard really great things about her and was anxious to meet her. She entered the room and said, "So I hear your breasts are behaving badly!". Heck yeah! How could I not love this doctor, she's hilarious! We had a great meeting with her and I began to feel more optimistic. Great news, she said, the cancer hasn't spread into your lymph nodes. I immediately felt 20 pounds ligher (too bad that was metaphorically speaking). She said that we had caught the IBC very early, the earliest she had ever seen it. She had her colleagues come in to see for themselves. They were all stunned, none of them had ever seen IBC present the way mine had. All agreed that they would have said eczema or mastitis. They all thanked me and my doctor said, "Thank you for showing us. You may have saved another woman's life today because we've never seen IBC like this before".

Her comment spun around in my head for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Maybe my job is to get the word out there about Inflammatory Breast Cancer. If I can make an impact on just one woman and that woman goes to her doctor because she's concerend about a rash she's had, maybe she'll catch her cancer soon enough to get treatment. I might have to battle this cancer head on, but at least I can go in with my eyes open and know that I did everything I could so that the next person diagnosed with IBC can recieve the best care possible.

2 comments:

  1. That comment "Your breasts are behaving badly" sounds like Dr.Stienhaus... is that your doctor??

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  2. Erin, I am laughing through my tears as I read this. Thanks so much for sharing! I'm so proud of you for taking your medical care into your own hands and striving to promote awareness about this particular kind. Go, girl!

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