Twenty-four days after I first contacted my medical centre, I attended an appointment at our local imaging centre. A mammogram was on the agenda first, to be followed by a scan, as requested by the young doctor I had seen. I had a mammogram at this same centre about ten years before as part of the national breast cancer screening programme, but they could not find evidence of it in their systems which was kind of weird. Where did it go? Did someone see something in it and refer it on, only to have it dismissed?
I was asked about the position of the lump that I had discovered and then, after the standard procedure, the radiographer took the images away and came back into the room to take a more focused mammogram using a smaller, squashier paddle in the region of the lump. Mammograms are never comfortable for me. They squeeze a part of your body that should not be squeezed so hard, and I would give someone a left uppercut if they ever squeezed me so hard without valid scientific reason.
The second lot of mammographs was then taken and the radiographer went away to speak to the "doctor" and on her return, I was moved into the scan room to meet the second radiographer of the day who was about to look as closely at my breasts as my husband. This scanning also covered both breasts and then focused on where the lump was supposed to be. Those images were also taken to the "doctor" who was in another room, and then a second set of images was taken at her request, and reported on again.
Finally, the "doctor" who was a radiologist (a doctor who specialises in radiology) came into the room and used the scanning equipment to take another look inside my breast. She talked to the radiographer about seeing a couple of small nodes as well and then addressed me, telling me that she was concerned about the images and would like to book me in for a biopsy. I was beginning to think, ugh, another delay before I find out what this is, but she said she could do the biopsy pretty much straight away, if that was alright by me.
I was ushered into another room and met another radiographer who introduced herself as someone I might know, and it dawned on me that she was the daughter of a friend. She was the fourth person of the day to get to see my poor breast, as she prepared to help guide the doctor (radiologist) with a scan while she extracted three samples of tissue from within my breast. After signing all of the necessary permissions to go ahead, I was given a local anaesthetic to numb the area and this was a fairly straightforward, painless procedure. I then went home and waited to hear of the results of the biopsy, as I was told that someone would contact me when those were available.
Within a couple of days, the results of the scanning procedures were posted in MyIndici (medical centre health app) and I read that the lump was judged as "probably malignant". While some may not like reading this kind of information, I was okay with it. I think my science background enabled me to digest the data about the lump and it also gave me time to reflect on the fact that I was probably about to experience the life of a breast cancer patient. The prognosis was not wrong as the biopsy result was also posted a few short days afterwards to confirm that I had Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) in my right breast - about 2 cms tall and a little under wide. It was a grade 2 cancer (not grade 1 which is slow growing, but also not grade 3 which is fast growing).
Afterthought: Interestingly, I discovered later that mammograms often miss "seeing" the type of cancer that I have and I feel no regrets about not participating in the National Breast Screening Programme and subjecting myself to the squeeze over the years. That is not to say that I would discourage others from participating, as I am sure that early screening does make a difference for life expectancy, but every woman has the right to decide what is right for her and live with the consequences.
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