First Mammogram After Surgery

I had my first mammogram since my surgery in July - almost exactly 6 months ago.  No evidence of malignancey.  I've had a lot of pain though, so they also did an ultrasound.  Nothing found there either except the scar tissue and some skin thickening from radiation.  While I had been worried about the pain, I did not think it was cancer so today's screenings only confirmed what I felt - that I'm cancer free as can be.  I say "as can be" only because there is potential for microscopic cancer cells to be somewhere in my body.  I'm not terribly worried about recurrence though.  I did everything the doctors told me to do, and I am still taking the hormone blocker that will starve any cancer cells left in my body.  What I'm worried more about right now is the damage the radiation did to me.  More on that in the next post.

Additional Imaging

I went in for additional mammogram and ultrasound images today.  One thing I noticed is that they squeeze my breasts a lot harder during mammograms here than they did at the VA.  The first mammo and this one was painful.  I hated it.  I swear society likes to torture women in many ways.  

After the imaging the radiologist came and talked to me.  He gave me some bad news.  I had a highly suspicious mass that would require a biopsy.  I asked many questions, one of them being how likely it is to be cancer in his opinion.  His response was "I would be very surprised if it was nothing."

The mass was 1.4cm in my right breast.  There was also a probable satellite mass of 0.4 cm approximately 1.7 cm away from the dominant lesion.  I was told that the satellite mass would not be biopsied but treated the same way the larger mass would be.  

The radiologist went on further to say that it looks like we caught it early, and I should be just fine.  He told me of many women in his family who went through breast cancer and is fine.  While the thought of having cancer was scary, his words were reassuring and appreciated.

From what I understand, they move pretty quickly at the breast center.  From time of abnormal mammography to surgery is typically less than two months.  As much as I appreciated the VA, somehow I couldn't see them moving as quickly.  As wonderful as government provided healthcare is for those who have no alternatives, the system may not always be able to handle the volume of patients in a timely manner.  I was glad to have gotten my screening in private sector this year.

Mammogram

I had my annual mammogram today.  I am 50 and have been getting my mammogram almost every year since turning 40.  I had one almost exactly one year ago which was normal.  

This year I decided to do my mammogram at a nearby cancer center five minutes down the road for me.  The last couple of screenings, however, were done at the Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Hampton, Virginia.  I couldn't get a Primary Care Physician (PCP) in the private sector when I first moved to Virginia Beach, so I drove the 30-minutes across the Hampton Roads Bridget Tunnel (HRBT) to the VA hospital.  The HRBT is notorious for its traffic, and during rush hours, the drive across can be an hour or more.  I usually took time off of work to go to my appoints in middle of the day.  Driving to the VA hospital for visits was not fun, and I was happy to be doing this year's mammogram closer to home.  Little did I know how much time I would be spending in that building over the next several months.