So having really just started this blog its mostly filled with older posts from the Breast Cancer Network that I write on. I thought it might be sorta cool to chronicle my journey with Angiosarcoma of the boobie and see how it goes. First up is the day I got my core needle biopsy, consequently also the day I went in for an exam with a new doctor... I guess it was that urgent.
The story:
So an unsuspecting me goes to a different boobie doctor after 2 years of ignoring what my other boobie doctor diagnosed me at 24 with; a globular hemangioma AKA a benign vascular tumor much like a strawberry mark (but inside your body). My former boobie doctor took my tumor out on my insistence. Whoever tells you that cancer doesn't hurt is full of shit. It hurt! I couldn't sleep on my stomach and the mass hurt to the touch.
Old boobie doc basically told me to come back for a mammogram when I was 35. He also told me hemangiomas almost always come back but not to worry about it... and if it was really bothering me he'd take it out again. So, when it came back 3 months after having it removed I took the drs. orders, I left it alone. For 2 years. Eventually, the mass got so big and uncomfortable that I was like eff this noise and went to a new boob doctor. While I was there telling her about what the other dr said, she was like "uh, you have one unhappy breast... and that is NOT normal. Your nipple is inverted and you're in pain". She got on the phone then and got me a STAT apt with the breast center. I had an ultrasound that day and while I was there the radiologist picks up the phone, calls my new boob doc back and asks her if he can biopsy the mass. I knew then I was in deep poops. Then the ultrasound doc goes somewhere and leaves me in the room with pictures of my tumor and a GIANT freaking needle and me in a fancy pink frock.
A word about biopsies. They hurt. Also I almost passed out, not generally afraid of needles or blood I found this surprising. My head was about to pop off from shock and panic and everything moving so quickly. The biopsy was guided by ultrasound so I actually had to watch while the 2 doctors fussed over my boob. Then they started talking about 16th century medicine and I sort of got tunnel vision and my hearing got all fuzzy. I clung to consciousness like a barnacle and made it through the biopsy without barfing or passing out!
The doctor told me that my results would be in the next day by 3 and if I did not hear from him, to call.
Next day at 3 I called. "We don't have the results yet"
day 2 at 3: "We are having trouble determining what we are seeing"
Day 3 at 3: "We are confirming with a specialist that you have a highly vascularized tumor- not sure if its malignant"
Day 4 at 3: "we've sent the specimen out to Johns Hopkins, Mayo, and MD Anderson for confirmation of diagnosis"
Day 5 at 6: "Hey Tracey, is someone there with you?" Yes... "You have a very rare malignant neoplasm called Angiosarcoma" Ohhh shit... "yes, I can't treat you, Its not breast cancer (even though its in your breast) I have to defer to a sarcoma specialist" oh... okay, thank you? "I am going to have the sarcoma board at City of Hope review your case, we're going to use you as a case study, it means you'll get the best care and most attention available."
I was in shock so its little surprise that I did a whole lot of nothing besides look at my mom and say "Evidently I have cancer... the bad kind" Not that all cancer isn't bad it's just that I happen to have the Maserati of cancers- fast moving and rare.
Here is a picture of my fancy giant needle and my face after seeing it. So, there my story starts on the 21st of January 2009.
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