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Would you describe what the "murky surveillance" of your breasts was and what tests did you have to discover the breast cancer diagnosis?
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TeriFuller (Survivor (2 - 5 years)) - 06 / 11 / 2012
Two days after giving birth to my daughter, I felt a lump. At the time, I was breastfeeding, which meant that my breasts were full of, well, milk. When a baby begins to suckle, the milk travels through the ducts to the nipple opening, and voila: the baby gets a drink.
During this process, a lactating mother can experience myriad abnormalities such as inflammation, breast lumps, abnormal nipple discharge, problems with lactation such as mastitis and/or plugged ducts, engorgement, and/or skin conditions such as psoriasis or dermatitis. So as you may imagine, it’s really hard to determine what’s really going on in a lactating breast. Is a palpated lump a result of mastitis? Is it a plugged duct? Is it a benign lump? Or, is it cancer?
I remember going in for imagining at my local hospital. Before having an ultrasound, I had to pump as much milk from my breasts as possible. Then, a sonographer scanned me and then called in the radiologist to read and discuss the findings. The radiologist could only tell me that he didn’t think it was cancer but that he couldn’t be sure because the lactation process made the reading of the images very difficult. He said that everything looked “kind of murky.”
I went back three months later and was told the same thing: “We don’t think it’s cancer, but we’re not sure; come back in three more months.”
I came back in another three months, and this time: I was told that by the radiologist that he didn’t think it was cancer but that he wanted me to see a breast surgeon anyway—just to be safe. I took his advice and went to a breast surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital who looked at the images from the community hospital radiologist and said: “I don’t know what you want me to do for you. If I biopsy it, only milk will squirt out.” Feeling relieved, I left to come back in another three months.
When I came back this time to Northwestern Memorial Hospital—after three more months—things were different. The sonographer immediately called in a radiologist to assist with the ultrasound imaging, and she said: “We need to do a biopsy.” They did the biopsy, and they did find cancer.
During this process, a lactating mother can experience myriad abnormalities such as inflammation, breast lumps, abnormal nipple discharge, problems with lactation such as mastitis and/or plugged ducts, engorgement, and/or skin conditions such as psoriasis or dermatitis. So as you may imagine, it’s really hard to determine what’s really going on in a lactating breast. Is a palpated lump a result of mastitis? Is it a plugged duct? Is it a benign lump? Or, is it cancer?
I remember going in for imagining at my local hospital. Before having an ultrasound, I had to pump as much milk from my breasts as possible. Then, a sonographer scanned me and then called in the radiologist to read and discuss the findings. The radiologist could only tell me that he didn’t think it was cancer but that he couldn’t be sure because the lactation process made the reading of the images very difficult. He said that everything looked “kind of murky.”
I went back three months later and was told the same thing: “We don’t think it’s cancer, but we’re not sure; come back in three more months.”
I came back in another three months, and this time: I was told that by the radiologist that he didn’t think it was cancer but that he wanted me to see a breast surgeon anyway—just to be safe. I took his advice and went to a breast surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital who looked at the images from the community hospital radiologist and said: “I don’t know what you want me to do for you. If I biopsy it, only milk will squirt out.” Feeling relieved, I left to come back in another three months.
When I came back this time to Northwestern Memorial Hospital—after three more months—things were different. The sonographer immediately called in a radiologist to assist with the ultrasound imaging, and she said: “We need to do a biopsy.” They did the biopsy, and they did find cancer.
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