How this all got started

July 1, 2008
I was just going through my calendar, and decided to get some things on the schedule, like teeth cleanings for my kids before school starts, physicals, and other items that needed to get done. I called my OB/GYN office, because I knew I was due for my annual checkup. They had an opening that afternoon! Yea. So I decide to take care of it. I really like Martha, the nurse practitioner. She's always been so friendly and professional.
Last year we had a little scare when my mammogram showed some microcalcifications in my right breast, but we looked into them and after a core needle biopsy, found that there were no abnormalities. I even went back in February for a follow up, and all appeared to be fine.
July came, I had my annual well check, and Martha told me that I had a lump in my left breast. I was stunned. Why hadn't I felt it? It made me upset. She said she felt one in my right breast as well, and said that I should schedule a screening mammogram and ultrasound to determine what was going on. I immediately went home, and was able to schedule it for July 3.
The x-rays seemed pretty rountine, but when she was doing the right side, she squeezed so hard to get the x-ray, I had a dark discharge leak through my nipple. What the heck? She said it was probably a harmless cyst that just burst. I was not comforted. What was going on? Then the x-ray tech told me to wait and make sure that we didn't need any more shots. A few minutes later, she returned and said that everything appeared normal. She said, "so, you felt a lump?" I told her that I hadn't before my exam, but that the nurse had felt one on each side. She said that the radiologist would want to do an ultrasound, but that everything seemed normal. When the ultrasound person examined my breast, she was able to feel a lump, and she could pinpoint a lump on the ultrasound. It looked huge. Panic time. Then she pointed out what normal tissue looked like, and how this was different. She also told me that things on the screen looked bigger than they actually were. She found my lymph nodes, and pointed out that they looked enlarged. Gulp. I was getting pretty nervous. On the right side, she said the ducts appeared enlarged and to be filled with matter, which was the discharge I had seen minutes before. After what seemed like an eternity, the radiologist came in and said that the mass on the ultrasound was suspicious, not really having a definite form, and that he couldn't say for sure what it was, but that my lymph nodes were enlarged. He apologized that he couldn't give me a definitive answer, and that he recommended I get it biopsied at my Dr's office. Well, being that the next day was the 4th of July, I knew that I'd have to wait to find anything else out. My appt. with Dr. Canavan was set for July 9, and I was just going to have to wait it out...