Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day? I think so! :)

Not going to lie people....this is my exact caringbridge entry tonight.  I'm just to tired (and possibly feeling a little lazy - plus I'm missing friends, and I need a daily freiends rerun dose!)

Happy Valentine's Day! The girls are SO excited, going through their treasures of cards and candy and other things I'm sure are destined for the garbage after they have been crushed on accident by a wondering foot walking through the bedroom in the dark.  They are showing me all of their wonderful things like Toy Story 3 pencils, looney toon tattoos, sticker and rings, mini kalidescopes and other "I love this!" things.  I feel like I let them down. Their valentine cards only consisted of a small cardstock sheet folded in half - not even home made.  No stickers, no toys, no candy. There were not any extras for friends on the bus or at recess.  They were the most plain and generic dollar store cards there ever were.

Just when I start to feel the "Woe is me"s creeping in, I remind myself.  I remind myself what a rough last two weeks we had as a family.  All of us girls were sick for nearly an entire week with coughs, high fevers and sore throats = no good sleep.  The next week everyone is cranky due to the lack of sleep the week before and finding it hard to get back into our routines.  I also remind myself that I just came home from having a biopsy done on my breast and I am sore and tired and not feeling myself.

It happened rather fast.  I have been noticing on and off for a few weeks a pain in my left breast.  I wasn't sure what it could have been and didn't think much of it - chalking it up to many different excuses and honestly, I had enough other stuff on my mind I don't think I really noticed how much it bothered me until those other things were lifted.

The pain started to get worse and last longer and also come one quicker.  I quickly realized that I could target it to one specific area of my breast.  I showed Jeremiah what i found and he agreed that my left breast looked larger and he could easily find the larger lump.  It became pretty sore by the end of the week.

We contacted my wonderful oncologist who set up the appointment right away.  I went in last Thursday for an ultrasound.  What the radiologist and technichian found was really interesting. They said that the lump I've been feeling and having pain with is not actually a lump at all. Its an area of very dense breast tissue that he believes is being irritated by the stress of using the crutch. That being said, there is still an actual lump. He said I wouldn't be able to notice or feel this mass.  And its relatively small, around 2 cm. That mass may be contributing to the pain and most likely swelling from the crutch irritation.

Both he and oncology felt confident its most likely a benign mass. But a mammogram was ordered which I had that afternoon (Not the most enjoyable moment in my life, but in hinze sight -its worth it and hardly the horror that I thought it would be). A needle biopsy was also ordered which I had this afternoon.  This was a lot different than what I expected.  It's similar to the leg biopsy I had but in many ways it's a lot different.  There was mild pain involved with the procedure, but I am SO glad its over.  Tonight it is very sore and tender. And will be that way for a few days.  The reults will be back in 24 - 48 hours.   

I took another look at the girls playing on the floor.  Sweet smiles and gleeful laughs fill the room.  I guess our day turned out just fine after all, boob biopsy and all.  Take care everyone, and God Bless!