I don't normally post about personal stuff because it isn't really my
thing but something a family member just said to me and her reaction
made me think.
Last July for various and sundry reasons I
had a hysterectomy and my ovaries removed....not to worry all is well.
While it was first stage cancer it was insitu as they say.
Sadly
my own family doctor passed away very suddenly within days of my
surgery so I was left high and dry. Now I had to look for a new family
doctor which is not really that fun to do.
I had no real
immediate health issues but I do have medication that I need to take. I
figured since I had a few months worth left finding a doctor wasn't such
a pressing issue.
Then...horror of horrors. Within a
few months of my hysterectomy surgery some lumps I had in my right
breast seemed to be getting bigger. I've had these lumps for quite a few
years and I had never done anything about them. What's that
word?.....oh ya...... procrastination...or it can't happen to me
syndrome. I was beginning to think that maybe I was loosing it and that I
was imagining that they were getting rather large....eeek.
Now
the issue to get a new doctor was pressing...I did... and he's very
thorough...sent me for tons of tests..... and of course he sent me for a
mammogram.
Lucky me. My imagination wasn't playing
games with my head. I had two lumps. I was called back for an ultra
sound. They were still there :)
I was then sent to the
Breast Cancer Clinic at North York General Hospital for referral. Yet
another ultra sound. I then met with this very young...to me anyway
LOL.... General Surgeon and Oncologist to give me his opinion.
He
wanted to do a needle biopsy and because I was his last patient for the
day he decided to do the procedure then and there rather that have me
come back again. I was given a needle injection for local pain. I was
told the freezing would last for ten minutes and that I might have some
pain from the procedure.
The needle biopsy was probably
the strangest test I have ever had done. The sound and sensation was a
bit off putting. Think about someone banging down on the back of a
stapler to make it work....Jeez Louise. The doctor was impressed at my
calmness but I figure why freak out when it's something that has to be
done.
I might add that despite the fact that they
said there would be pain it was nothing. I had an ice bag and it only
hurt for about five or ten minutes. The bruise though was gigantic and
very very colourful,
So my results came back and I
had what is known as Atypical Papillary Lesions. Not so bad. They could
stay as they weren't cancerous. But.... he wanted to take them out and
of course do a second more thorough biopsy.
So yesterday I
went into hospital at 7:00 a.m. and after sitting around for what
seemed like endless hours I had a Lumpectomy and finally after 2 1/2
hours of recovery arrived home about 5:15 totally shattered.
The
aftermath has been relativity painless. I took an extra strength
Tylenol before bed and today nothing. The only lasting annoyance is a
sore throat from the breathing tube they insert during surgery.
So the bottom line of this very long recitation is the moral of the story I guess.
I
will never put off until tomorrow what I should do today regarding my
health or something along those lines. I'm sure I'll think of something
more pithy but whatever.
My whole attitude was rather
stupid. I'm relatively healthy for my age and I figured nothing serious
would happen to me regarding the big C. Well that was wrong.
Be proactive about your own health care. Go and get a Pap Smear done and, go and get a Mammogram done.
I've
had some near misses and have been very lucky. So now I wait to see
what the final biopsy will find. Fingers and toes crossed.
Take care:)