My One Year Anniversaries & Another Biopsy

February 7, 2011 was the one year anniversary of the day that I discovered the dimple in my right breast. February 15, 2011 was the one year anniversary of the official diagnosis of breast cancer. March 15th is the anniversary of my Mastectomy at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital in Salt Lake. Wow - it's been a whole year now - and a very long year at that!

On March 2nd we trucked down to Salt Lake so I could have my one year check-up with Dr. Neumayer, and my yearly mammogram on my left breast. I guess the right reconstructed breast never has to get smashed to smithereens again. I wonder if that would pop my little implant? Ouch!

We got to Collin & Tiffany's house by 6pm so we could tend Landon while they went to Cub Scouts. Landon is such a cute funny little guy. Check out the amazing playhouse Tiffany made for Landon! It's a giant version of an activity book. The next morning dear, sweet Tiffany drove me to the Huntsman for my appointments again. First I went to the Radiology area on the 3rd floor for my mammogram. They got me in and out pretty quickly. Then down to the 2nd floor to see Dr. Neumayer.

When we were heading to the Huntsman, I thought, "Wouldn't it be weird to run into Mandi up there?" Of course I knew that was very unlikely. While Tiffany and I were sitiing there, who walks by - Mandi! She had to see Dr. Agarwal because a little part of her incision had opened up, and wouldn't heal (Just like mine did!), and she was going to have it stitched up the next day (Just like I had to do!). Is there something that runs in the family that makes our skin resistant to healing properly? Mandi wasn't feeling great, because she had her first Chemo treatment a few days before. But we got a picture together in the Huntsman waiting room. Same hair-do! But like Mandi said, our hair is "meeting in the middle" - mine is coming in, and hers is about to leave!

Notice the golf cart in the background. Landon & Tiffany got to go for a little ride down the hall on it. An aide transported a patient down the hall, and invited them to come along, since Landon was so interested in the cart.

Dr. Neumayer prescribed more Gabapentin to see if that will help with the twinges of pain I'm getting in the reconstructed breast. She also told me I should probably go to an orthopedic doctor for my shoulder. The Physical Therapy hasn't seemed to break up the buildup that's freezing my shoulder. I figured that this might be the last time I'll see Dr. Neumayer. But then I heard her say something about coming in every 6 months for a few years. HUH? Shows how much I know about anything!

While I was still in the exam room talking to my nurse Vickie, they came in and told me that I needed to go back up to Radiology. My mammogram showed some spots, and they wanted to take some close-up shots. Oh boy. I went up and got smashed some more. Then I went into the "computer" room where a Radiologist showed me my mammogram pics, and showed me the spots. He said they looked like benign ductal calcifications, but because of my cancer history, they wanted to do a biopsy on a few of the spots just to be safe. I wasn't too happy about that.

Since I'm an out-of-towner, they found an appointment spot to cram me into the next day. What a bummer! The next day, March 4th, sweet Tiffany drug me up to the Huntsman again. The day before lasted a couple of hours with all of the extra mammograms. Tiffany had to keep Landon entertained in the waiting room, past his nap time. So, here we were again! The biopsy method they were to use is a more high-tech method for getting at little tiny spots, without having to cut into you surgically. It's called a Stereotactic biopsy. With my first biopsy on the right side, the Radiologist guided the big needle using Ultrasound. Such little spots are harder to nail perfectly using just Ultrasound. The Stereostatic uses two different Mammogram images from two different views, and the coordinates from the two views are entered into a computer, and the computer inserts the big needle. The terrible thing about that is with mammograms, the breast must be compressed. So I laid on a hard metal table with a hole in it for the breast to drop through, and my head cranked to the right a full 90 degrees. They raise the table up into the air, and the Doctor and the Rad Tech sit underneath me doing their thing. It's like I'm a car getting a Lube job, and the doctor is the "mechanic."

I guess some people refer to this procedure as a "Boob Lube" (No, that's not me in the pic. I found it on the internet. Actually this table looks more comfortable than the one I laid on!). For me, the procedure ended up being a torture session. First they had to compress an already very tender & sore breast. Sharp pains were shooting through my breast instantly. I waited anxiously for the local anesthetic so that those shooting pains would stop. They didn't. For some unknown reason the anesthetic didn't work. I could feel the big needle going into my breast - I could feel it as it rotated around to different positions - I could feel it when it snipped the pieces of tissue.

When I reacted to the pain, the tech and doctor were very shocked that I could feel it. They said they had given me the max of the anesthetic, and I should be too numb to feel it. It was horrible. All they could do was say, "Don't move", and "We'll try to get this done as fast as we can." I thought it would never end. I seriously think that given the choice, I'd rather try waterboarding for my next torture session than endure this again.

After they finished getting some samples, they used a plunger to insert a small piece of Titanium into my breast as a marker to show where the samples had been taken from. The student doctor (Resident) performed this procedure while the doctor gave him instructions (I felt that too.). Now they'll know where to look closely on my next mammogram. If I have another mammogram anyway; this made me seriously contemplate just getting a Mastectomy on my left breast so I just don't have to ever worry about any of this again. The nurse told me they'd get the results back in a few days.

The next Wednesday, after we got back home, I got the phone call that the spots were indeed benign ductal calcifications. OK - big relief! But I still wonder if I want to wait around for the other shoe to drop, or just take the shoe off now. Hmmmmm...