The Tracking

October 27, 2016

They warn you about checking your breasts for lumps. They nag you about it, and yet many woman don't check themselves on a regular basis. You're supposed to get your first mammogram when you're 40 and then every year after that. Many woman also don't do this. They put it off because the reality is that having your boobs squashed in a mammogram machine isn't really that appealing.

I wasn't one of those woman. I had my first mammogram when I was about 20. Breast cancer ran in my family so being checked early and regularly was a priority.

Throughout my 20's and 30's, I had several lumps and cyst found, drained, and watched. They were always nothing. I came to be quite comfortable going through the steps of having mammograms, small scares, walking into the cancer specialists office. There was a time when I got nervous every time they found something, but then it became so regular that I stopped thinking about it.

Until recently, that is. Well over a year ago, there was a cyst on the left side. They drained it and it came back. They said it was nothing. I made it my job to keep an eye on it. Instead of going in every year, I was now checking it every 6 months. Shortly after one of these check-ups that area started to hurt, I could swear the cyst got larger, and it felt like there were now two lumps. They're not supposed to hurt, at least they never hurt before. I knew I needed to go back in.

Thanks to insurance, this took longer than I wanted. First you have to make an appointment with the doctor and then get a referral for the mammogram, and then make the appointment with the imaging center. By the time I got my appointment that left side was super tender, with sharp pains every now and then, and I often couldn't even sleep on that side.

I had a mammogram and an ultrasound. The techs aren't allowed to tell you anything. I remember laying there during my ultrasound, arm draped over my head, quickly losing circulation, and trying to shift my eyes over my head to view the ultrasound machine. When that didn't work, I just tried to analyze the facial expression of the tech. She gave nothing away. It was all business, she didn't even talk except for when she was scolding me for wiggling my arm around too much.

And that was it. I was sent home expecting the normal wait time of 7-10 business days to get the results.

I would soon find out that I was wrong.