Surgical Oncology Check-Up & New Tumor

Is It Possible?

I had a check-up with my surgical oncologist today.  He checked Diablo the tumor and agreed he is shrinking nicely.  It is approximately 1-inch wide (left to right) and 1/2-inch tall top to bottom).  It is much softer as it was very hard before I began treatment.  Because it's softer, it's not as obvious and easy to feel.  Everyone keeps asking me if the fact that my tumor is shrinking so fast will affect how long I am required to do treatment.  My treatment plan upon diagnosis was six months of chemo--12 treatments (1 per week) of Taxol, and 4 treatments (1 every other week) of Adria & Cytoxan.  My doctor confirmed today that the tumor responding quickly to treatment does not alter my treatment plan.  The best possible outcome is for there to be no disease left after treatment is complete.  Many patients have no trace of a tumor after treatment, which makes the surgery more successful. So while it would be nice to move things faster than first planned, I want to make sure we get every trace of this stupid disease as possible. Better to do it all now than have to do it again later.  My doctor said everything looked great, and I would see him again in a month.

I then told him that approximately two weeks ago I noticed sharp, stinging pains in my right breast near my nipple in the 2-O'Clock position.  This is the opposite breast where my known tumor, Diablo, is located.  The sharp, stinging pains I was feeling were identical to what I felt where my current tumor is located before the tumor was there and as it began growing.  I thought it was a hormonal cyst and ignored the pains last time; but this time I knew better.  I checked my breast throughly in the area where I was having the pains, and sure enough, I found a lump.  It was small and deep within my breast tissue, so I likely would not have ever found it if not for the pains that alerted me something was going on.  While I hoped it was a cyst, I wasn't going to take any chances.  He felt the lump, and agreed it was too suspicious not to check on, so he sent me across the hall for an ultrasound of the lump.

After my ultrasound, I went back to my doctor's office and waited for him to come in to tell me the findings of the ultrasound.  The radiologist read the ultrasound and determined it was not a cyst as it did not have fluid and was a solid mass.  Based on this, the radiologist determined a biopsy was needed to determine what the mass was.  Surprisingly, I didn't get that dreaded feeling I got the first time I was told this news.  I suppose I was expecting it this time.  Besides, I already have cancer, and I had already planned on a double mastectomy so for me, it's not like this changed my plan.  I figure it's better to know what we're dealing with when the time comes.  Because I live two hours away, they worked in my biopsy to be at noon.  This gave me two hours to grab some lunch before heading back.

I arrived a few moments early for my biopsy.  Not because I was looking forward to it; but because I wanted to get it over with.  My doctor is a fabulous doctor, and he honestly does a great job taking care of me; but a biopsy hurts.   So I knew what I was in for, and I was dreading it.  My last biopsy consisted of 10 core samples, and it sucked!  This tumor was much smaller, so I knew it couldn't consist of as many samples; but I was dreading it none-the-less.

The nurses called me back; and one of them was the same one who was involved in my first biopsy.  She remembered me as the girl with the awesome boots.  That made me laugh--I do love my boots!  We chatted as we prepared for the biopsy and waited on the doctor to come in.  Dr. Povoski arrived, and I took a deep breath preparing myself for what was about to happen.  He first numbed my breast so I wouldn't feel the biopsy.  While the numbing certainly prevents you from feeling would would obviously be absolutely torture and unbearable without it, you still feel pressure and an uncomfortable feeling.  The shot to numb your breast does hurt--it stings as if you're being stung multiple times.  He used an ultrasound to guide the biopsy needle so I could watch the needle being inserted in my breast and directly into the tumor.  I was impressed both this time and the previous time at his precision and ability to insert a needle through breast tissue into a tumor inside your breast.  Last time, the tumor was so big it wasn't hard to hit the tumor; but this time, the tumor was small and much more difficult to "hit".  Yet he did it perfectly and on the first try.  He did three core biopsy samples from the tumor, which was a relief that it wasn't more.  While it hurt, it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time.

After he was done with the biopsy, he said the tissue he removed from the tumor looked like fibrocystic breast tissue to him, but the biopsy results would confirm this.  Fibrocystic breast tissue is dense breast tissue that sometimes forms a benign tumor in the breast.  While I am praying this is the case, I am prepared if I hear the word cancer yet again.  I'm already receiving treatment so this time would not be nearly as traumatic.  The first time I went through this, I had a deep sense of dread inside of me.  I somehow knew it was cancer long before any tests told me so.  Even when doctors were telling me it had none of the characteristics of cancer and everything pointed to a benign tumor, I carried a sense of dread that they were wrong.  I do not feel this way this time.  I have a sense of peace about this; and I truly feel it's going to be okay.

I feel as if this lump has likely been there for quite some time.  I'm just more aware of what I feel in my body now.  So I want to use this blog to again remind everyone out there to listen to your body.  Please pay attention when your body is giving you signals something is going on.  Please check your breasts regularly in the shower or in bed.  Regularly means at least once a month.  Do not quickly check your breasts, but take your time and feel deep within your tissue.  To feel the lump in my right breast, I had to somewhat pinch the area to feel it.  If you aren't sure what you're feeling for, contact your local Cancer Society.  They may have a breast model you can practice on.  It is worth the time doing this as the model is a squishy breast with various lumps inside it.  It teaches you how to find a lump and just how hard and deep you need to press to find one.  I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a lump even when you knew it was there.  Your health is worth taking the time to learn this.  Finding a lump when it's tiny vs finding a lump once it's grown large enough to make itself obvious can be the difference between stage 1 and stage 3 cancer.  That's a pretty big deal when it comes to survival rates and the chances for cancer to have spread to your lymph nodes, which can then be circulated through your circulatory system to various organs in your body.  I cannot stress enough how important it is to listen to your body and speak to your doctor about any concerns you may have.  Regardless of how small they may seem.

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