Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Biopsy Purgatory

I thought I was free when 5 years passed.

I thought I was free when the tech said today Things look good.

Silly me! Apparently what she meant is that the scan looked good from a technical standpoint..that she could clearly see my new lesion.  Not good for me necessarily. She was mysteriously replaced by a new tech.

A zillion painful, expensive scans later (just last week my battle was to have them code it for a screening mammogram...HA!)

So what do I have? I have a small area (4 mm) of calcifications that was not there before about an inch from where my old tumor was. If it were closer, she would have considered it fat necrosis which is what it could be even at this late date. It is small so that if it's cancer, it is more likely to be DCIS (in situ..not invasive) but still even small tumors can be invasive. Given my checkered past (dumb expression), they recommended a biopsy right away. Unfortunately I have to be aspirin free for 5 days previous so it will be next week instead of this week.

It's so long since the first tumors that it is probably NOT a recurrence but a new primary.

If it is cancer of any sort, genetic testing is indicated. I didn't meet the requirements back in 2008 as I was over 50 with no young cancer patients amongst my relatives (though my mom and her sister had BC as older adults). They since have changed that to 55 because they found plenty of cases of BRAC1 among people just like me. The genetics are such that to have it, one of your parents had to have had it.No smoking gun there. As I have 2 daughters and 3 granddaughters, I owe it to them to find out.

I don't know if I can face another cold winter of chemo. No more radiation though. If it is TNBC, then mastectomy (wish I did this in the first place)

But then again....it could be nothing.

After my fun morning in the hospital, I went for a run to hopefully produce some endorphins to counteract this extreme sadness I am faced with. I am skipping the Livestrong thing today.

I try to live by Don't worry about this until you have to.

I hope I am the False Alarm Queen.



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am so sorry you have this big worry to deal with and have to wait for the biopsy. I will be thinking of you.
Kris

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