The day of my biopsy had arrived! Believe it or not, I felt excited to get it over and done. At this point, I’ve had many mammograms, ultrasounds, and analysis from several doctors that it was time to get answers instead of guesses.
My husband and my mom took me to the hospital. I’m glad that they could both make it because they have different expertise to assist me. I couldn’t drink or eat anything past midnight. That sounds simple enough, but I tend to become sick when I don’t eat on time. I would be okay though and handle it.
After registering at the hospital, nurses called me back quickly. I needed to change into a big blue robe which was huge on me. Why they can’t make those robes different sizes is beyond me. I used the bathroom and then it was time to answer questions about my medications and meeting the anesthesiologist. All standard procedure type processes before a biopsy. They had to do another blood test because the place that I had a blood test apparently lost mine.
I met with the doctor and first needed a procedure that I didn’t know about before the biopsy. Nurses took me upstairs in a room with a specialist. She injected medicine into my left that would make it numb. Afterwards, while looking at the ultrasound, she took a wire that went exactly to the mass in question.
I realize that this sounds scary, and I wasn’t too happy about it. I also needed to stay still. My disability makes me have involuntary movements no matter how much I don’t want to move. My mom helped me stay still and the woman doing the procedure did very well. She saw the mass and didn’t think it was cancer. She seemed surprised that they were even doing a biopsy. It made me feel relieved, but you never know until you know.
After the wire was in me, the nurses took me back downstairs. The wire never really hurt me, but I could feel it and it wasn’t too comfortable. Finally, I could lay down and begin the biopsy. At that point, I felt hungry, thirsty and just ready to get this over. I said goodbye to my mom and husband and another nurse rolled into the operating room which was full of happy people and the music of Alanis Morrisette. In a short time, I fell asleep.
I woke up in with nurses surrounded around me. My heart rate spiked up pretty high as I was waking, and I needed medication in my IV to bring it down. No one knew why this happened but luckily the medicine helped a lot. After given recovery directions, prescriptions for pain, and ice packs – they allowed me to go home.
Recovery from the biopsy probably took me a week. It hurt more than I expected it to but like everything, it eventually healed. I didn’t care for the scar, but I knew that would also fade. At this point, all I wanted to hear was some good results from the biopsy. Everything else would get better.
I’ll never forget the late January Friday morning that I received the results. My personal care attendant and I were in my bedroom straightening it up. It wasn’t quite ten o’clock yet, and my cellphone rang. I could tell it was the oncologist from caller ID. I never prepared myself for bad news since everyone seemed so positive about everything. Perhaps you can’t fully prepare for it anyway.
I answered as my toddler son danced around me. The doctor sounded so chipper and happy when I answered so I thought the news would be great! And then my bubble burstwhen he said, “some of the cells are cancerous.”
After quickly scheduling another appointment for Monday to discuss results, I hung up. I asked my attendant if she could take my son out in the kitchen. I needed a moment to process, try to feel, and try to gain composure for the day. The words, “I have breast cancer,” kept going over and over in my mind. Unexpected tears came in my eyes as I whispered, “now what?”
