Just Simply Jen

I've become hooked on Lifetime television. It's sort of a bad thing because I'm such a sap. Tonight I watched a wonderful movie. It was called "Why I wore lipstick to my mastectomy." If you don't know anything about it, it's about a woman who found out she had breast cancer and her journey from diagnosis to years after her mastectomy. It, like most Lifetime movies, is a true story. It was a great movie and very powerful. I have to say that it made me think about my own journey this time last year.
About this time last year I was going to bed and when I sat down I bumped my breast. It hurt pretty bad, but I had just finished my period and it was tender before from that so I didn't think anything of it before that night. I went to rub it to make it feel better and felt a very large lump. It was right behind the nipple and about the size of a silver dollar. It was very solid. I freaked out and spent some time talking to my husband. You wouldn't believe the thoughts that went through my head. I was able to get an appointment very quickly with a doctor at family practice. He did an exam and was concerned when he realized that it was so solid he could actually grab it. He told me I would need a mamogram. Well because of my age they did an ultrasound instead. Now it was about two weeks before the ultrasound and I was very scared. It was a hard two weeks. I couldn't get the thoughts of if it was cancer or not, things like that. I went for my ultrasound. Everyone there was so nice. The doctor who did my ultrasound got this look on her face that scared me to death. She told me she needed to get her supervisor to come look at it. He came in and looked and then I heard something you never want to hear from your doctor. "I really have no idea what it is." It took everything I had not to lose it. I got dressed and the lady doctor told me that they wanted to do a biopsy. They were going to do a ultrasound guided needle biopsy. It was about three weeks before that appointment and I was in sheer agony. My husband was getting ready for a deployment and we didn't know what was going to happen. I went to the biopsy and it went really smoothly. There was still the confusion and worry because they didn't know what it was. A week later I found out that I had a fibroid mass inside a cyst. It was benign. I was so relieved, but I definitely learned how important it is to do monthly self exams.
I really want to encourage everyone to take this seriously. There are lots of resources out there that can inform you on what you need to do. It doesn't matter how old or how young you are. It can happen to you.