Saturday 15 February 2014

Keeping A'breast' of Things - Update

Hi everyone, just over a week ago I wrote about the lumps I had found in my breast, you can click on the link HERE, and told you what happened when I went to the doctors and that I had a follow up appointment at the hospital booked for last Thursday (the 13th of Feb).  So, I can now tell you what happened there...

My appointment was booked for 10.15 am and thankfully my best friend and I got there about 10 minutes early.  It didn't take too long to find the department and I recognized it straight away from when I was last there 11 years ago!
After booking in at reception, we sat in the waiting room for what seemed like ages but must have only been about 15 minutes.  Finally my name was called and we went through to see the doctor, a very nice man and thankfully the same one I had seen the first time around.  I was amazed he remembered me!  He read through my notes and the letter from my local doctor, then asked to examine me.  Yes it was a little embarrassing but nothing he hadn't seen a million times before and of course it was necessary so it didn't matter too much.


He asked me if I got any discomfort or pain and I said that I did get a bit of discomfort in that area, especially when I lay on my front in bed but he said, if it hurts that's always a good sign!
He told me he could feel something but was sure it was nothing bad and assured me they would do a scan anyway just to be 100% sure.  So after putting on one of the hospitals' patterned gowns, my friend and I took my basket of clothes in to the small separate female-only waiting room.  We waiting for a short while on our own, then another couple of other ladies came in, we were all waiting for scans, so it was nice to be able to talk to each other about it all.

Eventually, I was called through to the scanning room, there were a couple of nurses in there and another doctor.  I was asked to lay on the bed, had very cold gel squirted on me and then the doctor did the scan over both sides just to be sure.  He then confirmed that all he could see was glands and normal breast tissue and nothing else out-of-the-ordinary!
After cleaning myself up, I was then told to go back and wait in the little room again until the doctor could have another chat.  Thankfully the other lady's scans went well too, as did the third younger lady that came in while we were waiting, we were very pleased for them too!

It was strange how the atmosphere changed in that little room, from when we were all in there waiting for the scans, not knowing what to expect, feeling sick with nerves and worry, to the feeling of it afterwards when we all felt so relieved!

After about another 10 minutes, I went back in to see the doctor and once again he confirmed everything was ok and totally normal.  He said that these glands can come up and go down again for no real reason!  He said it's mostly a hormonal thing and not just around the time of your monthly visitor, it can happen any time.
He also told me (which I didn't actually know), that if you feel over the area with your fingers you will always feel any number of lumps and bumps and you will drive yourself mad (his words!) and that you are supposed to feel with the palm of your hand!  So at least I know how to do it more properly in future!

I finally felt like I could take a proper sigh of relief then, because it finally felt 'over with'.  Of course I was still right to get it checked out but I honestly don't think there could have been a better outcome and it was definitely better than I expected after last time, no biopsy yeay! :-D   
Once we'd finally got out the hospital, we decided we needed to have a little celebratory shop lol, and as I didn't feel too bad we went off in to town and bought some very nice little bits, most of which I will show you in another 'mini haul' post.

So that's it, I will of course keep a check on things and make sure I'm checking in the proper way!  But literally thank God I don't need to worry now :-)


For more information on how to check your breast and what to look out for, I found this website helpful - NHS Choices

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