This coming Tuesday will mark one year since I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. What a year it has been. This last week was a stressful, worrisome week because almost to the day of my mammogram/ultrasound testing last year, I found a small hard lump on my right breast, accompanied by some tenderness and swelling in my arm pit. My heart dropped and I went into instant fear that this was going to happen all over again. I went to my oncologist to have her take a look at it. After examination, she determined that yes, there was definitely a hard lump there (about the size of a small pea) but she would not be able to tell what it is without having an ultrasound test done. I had the ultrasound test yesterday and it was determined to be a cyst - not dangerous! The doctor who performed the ultrasound said it was most likely an oil cyst and was probably due to the trauma of the surgeries. The lymph nodes looked fine on the ultrasound, not sure why the swelling and tenderness was there, but that has also cleared up for the most part. You cannot imagine the relief that I felt when she gave me her diagnosis. As an aside, the doctor that I saw yesterday for the ultrasound was the same doctor that did my biopsies and gave me the news that I had cancer last year. It was like reliving a bad dream, almost to the day a year later and the same doctor performing the tests - I was so scared!
The doctor stated that what I felt is what a cancerous tumor feels like. The only way to determine whether it is cancerous or not is by ultrasound and/or biopsy. She told me very seriously that if I were to ever again feel something like this, not to assume that it is "just a cyst", but to take it seriously and get in for testing right away. You don't want to take any chances with stuff like this. If the lump felt soft - lumpy-bumpy, not so much to worry about. They say that triple negative has the highest rate of recurrence within the first three years. I am almost at year one and thankful that I am in the clear.
This was quite a wake-up call for me. I was beginning to get a little bit lax with slipping a little bit on my healthy eating habits and allowing stress from work and other things creep back into my life. While I haven't been living in fear of the cancer returning, this close call reminds me to stay on track and not take it for granted that I am cancer-free and that it won't ever return. I still need to do my part to be as healthy as I can and to live life to the fullest.
OK, Universe, I got it. You don't need to pop in with these reminders and lessons. I'm a quick study and I got this! Thanks for the gentle reminder and for getting me back on track. I've got things to do and people to take care of.
And...curly chemo curls to try to manage :)
