Its my cancerversary!

So what is that? Cancerversary = cancer anniversary. It was one year today that I was diagnosed. Everyone counts it differently - some people use the day of the first bad mammogram, others their surgery date. For me, its the day I got confirmation that I was headed down the roller coaster from hell. Originally, when I started my blog and thought maybe I'll keep writing for a year. By then it should be over and I will have to do something else. Well that is all changed now.

What do I get as a present for my cancerversary? Another bad mammogram. Yep! You read it right. Yesterday I had a follow up mammogram and appointment with my surgeon. I thought I had felt a lump a few weeks ago at around 10 o'clock (That's how they position them like the numbers on a clock. It makes sense when you are facing a clock but when you are looking down at your own body its kind of confusing.) So when I went to the mammogram, I told the technician I thought I felt a lump and she asked me to put a marker on it. After the mammogram, she told me I would have to wait for up to half an hour for a radiologist to read the scans. They have a nice waiting room in the mammogram, excuse me, 'breast imaging' area, with comfy chairs, a TV and lots of magazines. About 40 minutes later, they came and got me again but instead of going back for more scans, they started taking me in another direction. When I asked, they said we are going to ultrasound, we always go to ultrasound when there is a lump. That was news to me.

So in ultrasound, the technician wasn't too concerned with the area where I thought I felt something but with the far side, over at 5 o'clock... Apparently the mammogram picked up something suspicious. But they couldn't find anything where I thought I had felt something. They then told me to wait again. They talked about some weird kind of mammogram with dye injections and five minute scans but my surgeon said no so I went up to see him. After waiting around for a bit, I met with him. He said he needs a biopsy of the suspicious area from the mammogram. So welcome to biopsy hell. My biopsy is Wednesday. I have had some rib pain so I get to have a bone scan Tuesday. (This is different than the bone density scan just a few weeks ago.) Then I go back to the surgeon a week from Monday to find out what this is all about.

In case you were wondering biopsy hell is when you know you might have something and are stuck in stress filled hell waiting for the results. Don't expect me to be sunny and cheerful this week. I think crabby and whiney might be better. I think stress can be relieved by ice cream and pinot grigio and possibly some prescription medications I have for instances like this. Damn, I can't have ice cream. Well I can have ice cream but my gall stone won't like it. Grrr, grrr, grrr.

I really do not feel like talking about this. So after reading this if you feel an urge to pick up the phone to call me, please do not. If you do, I will talk to you about the weather, Red Sox, Celtics, the cat, life in general, politics (well but not the Florida and Michigan chaos), summer vacation plans, food, tv shows, and many other topics. My current medical state is not a topic for discussion at this time. Thanks.