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Friday, July 3, 2009

The Tadpole

The Tadpole-sized object that showed up in my routine mammogram turned out to be early breast cancer. The biopsy the next week showed that it was small but mean, so a week later I had a mastectomy. The surgery is minor if they don't have to take your armpit or do reconstruction, and I went home the next day, last Friday. Didn't even need pain meds. The doctor found lots of fluffy fat which he rearranged very artfully, so I even have cleavage.

Thirty years of mammograms have finally paid off. All this talk about self-examination is hooey without the mammo. I've been feeling around for a marble or a ping-pong ball, and no one could have felt the tadpole, even if they knew better and knew where to look.

Next week the drains and the staples will come out. I'll also meet soon with the cancer doc to plan a future course of action. After he reads the tea leaves, I'm expecting chemo. Having a little breast cancer is like being a little bit pregnant, you still have to deal with it. It's too soon to choose a wig, but I may go with Cher or Whoopie. You can vote.

2 comments:

Susan said...

Who woulda thought a tadpole could have caused such a commotion! It's good that you caught that tadpole before he morphed into a frog.

Anonymous said...

That's about the best experience with breast cancer I've ever heard of. So glad it was caught early, and that the mastectomy went as well as it did.