Just for the Ladies

I thought I would talk to the ladies today. I come with a short but strong message today.

SELF EXAM YOUR BREASTS. PERIOD.

I say this because I recently had surgery on my right breast. I had a benign lump removed. I am 24 years old. I've had this lump since February 2008, at the age of 20. I know I've had it since then because I check on a regular basis. To be frank, it scared the shit out of me when I first discovered it. I didn't immediately go to the doc because I had my yearly check-up coming that May and felt it could wait.

I went, they felt it, and I was scheduled an ultrasound to further investigate. Come to find out, it was a solid benign cyst. I was told I had two options: have it cut out, or wait and continue to have it checked yearly by ultrasound. I opted for the wait and see.

I made the mistake of not going to the doc for my breasts on a regular basis like I should have. I still continued to self examine my breasts. I didn't feel it grow any so I wasn't concerned.

Flash forward to 2011. I went for my normal exam and was told that I HAD to have an ultrasound on the lump to make sure it hadn't changed any. According to the ultrasound, it had. They didn't want to make any decisions though until six months had past to do another ultrasound to make precise measurements. Six months had past and it had grown some more. It had grown well over the "okay" percent for a year, let alone six months. I was then sent to a surgeon to discuss further options, just like the first time.

I was given three options this time: Wait and see, biopsy, or cut out. I opted for the biopsy because of work scheduling issues. I was not able to take any time off to do a full out-patient surgery. I had the biopsy done and was first told it was a benign cyst. Nothing new. Scheduled to come back in six months for another check-up.

About two weeks had past when I got a call from the surgeon's office asking for me to come in. The pathologist's report had come back with different results. Come to find out, I had a cystosarcoma phyllodes tumor. It's a rapidly growing, normally benign, tumor. It was highly recommended that I had it cut out. I decided to go with the surgery.

I had the surgery and am glad that it has been removed. I'm not trying to scare you. Awareness is key. If you've never performed a breast self examination (BSE), see here for how to.

From what I understand, a lot of women do not BSE, and for different reasons. Forget, fear, or just don't feel right touching their breasts. I can understand that. I, at first, felt silly doing it, but it then became normal to do. Just do it. :)