A Lovely Time Was Had By All At St. John's Breast Center!

You know, I hate breast squishage. It's uncomfortable and just plain annoying as hell. And I am truly amazed every single time they are able to take my C-cup and smash it flatter'n a fritter. But, I digress...

When I arrived for my appointment on the 12th of Nov, I didn't have to wait at all. I was in the room getting squished within 5 minutes of my arrival. The tech was great and I got to see the images. Of course I had no clue what I was looking at, not being a radiologist and all...But it was pretty cool! Once all the film was taken, the radiologist reviewed it and lo and behold, not only was the lump I felt visible, but she also saw a small cluster of microcalcifications. See, that's why she gets paid the big bucks and not me, because I could BARELY see the damn things! How she saw them is mind-boggling.

Because they needed to get a closer look, I was squished even more but just in those 2 specific spots. Not fun. Not pleasant. The area under my armpit, the upper left side of my chest, and down my entire left arm was just aching by the time we were done. I figure that big lymph node had it's own party going on right then, which is why everything ached so much. Speaking of the lymph node, they whipped me right into the ultrasound room to get some pictures of it.

After all that was done, the radiologist came in and said that we needed to biopsy both of those areas. She also noted that I had a mammogram there back in 2004 and it was recommended then that I come back in 6 months for a recheck of that pesky lymph node. She eyeballed me and said, "And why didn't you come back?!"

Well, what could I say, really. I just admitted it....I said, "Umm...because I'm a bad patient?" Yeah. Yeah, I am. I'm a horrible patient, actually, and I don't do the things I'm supposed to do sometimes. Like get mammograms and paps regularly...

So, once all the goop was cleaned off and I was dressed, I left there with an appointment card. November 24th was "biopsy day". Oh joy...