My Breast Health

Now that my days as a 39-year-old are numbered, I was a good girl and got my baseline screening mammogram last month. Oddly, none of the paperwork asked me if I was currently breastfeeding, only if I had *ever* breastfed. During the screening, the tech had to keep coming back for more images, because the radiologist couldn't get a good look at my breasts, because they are dense, because I'm young, and breastfeeding. They even had me do an ultrasound of one breast because they just couldn't get a look at it.

A week later, my dr. called me and said that there was one spot they were concerned about, mostly because they really just didn't know what it was. So I had to go to a breast specialist this morning. I had to be there at 6 am (yes, that's right, 6 AM!) to get several more mammogram films, including one that involved twisting my breast on the plate and smooshing it with the plastic tray. While the normal mammogram wasn't really a problem, the twisty ones were quite unpleasant. Luckily, they were brief. In between getting more views, there was a lot of waiting while the radiologist and the doctor reviewed the films and decided what to do next. There was another ultrasound, more films, etc. for 3.5 hours, and then I was ushered in to the doctor's office to wait for her (another 30 minutes). I reminded her that I've been breastfeeding with only a brief break since 2003 (which she said made her job harder, but then she covered by saying "but it's absolutely the healthiest thing for you and the baby!" ). I did find it weird that breastfeeding does make it more difficult to read the mammograms but they don't ask about it more.

Ultimately, they decided that it was nothing (because the weird spot got flattened out during the twisty mammogram, so not so weird) but that I should come back for another screening in 6 months. I hope they will then decide that whatever it is is just a normal part of my breast and I can go to a more normal schedule.

With all the waiting, I did manage to read an entire book from beginning to end (albeit a short one: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons), organize my to-do list, wrote 2 cards, and started a knitting project. Thanks to my friend Elaine for warning me about the long wait.

So I don't seem to have breast cancer, but just some lumpy weird breast tissue.