kayakgrrl

YAY, Margi! I'm so glad to hear that you're beign!

I had a pretty painless ultrasound-guided core biopsy a week and a half ago, which also turned out to be benign. Mine didn't bruise too terribly, and was only a little painful a couple of days after the biopsy.  But, I had a bad reaction to the surgical tape that they used to close the incision which caused me to get two huge blisters under the tape and I got a rash, apparently from the disinfectant product they used to prep me for the biopsy, that spread from my belly almost to my shoulder and crept around to my back. The rash is just now going away and the blister marks are still there. Sigh.

The whole process of having parts of you squished and then having little bits cut out (and little bits of metal put in instead) seems, well, not exactly space age science, you know? Still, getting the word that you're ok, at least for now, is really wonderful! I hope you are spending the day eating and sleeping and doing all the things you couldn't bring yourself to do while you were waiting for results!

Thanks FloridianAtHeart! I hope that you won't need to have a biopsy, but I know that *I* definitely want to know what things are really like from the patient side (not from the medical profession side with their euphemistic "you'll experience slight discomfort" to indicate that you're going to be hopping on one foot and cursing their entire family line with pain).

I have spent a LOT of time on this board since being called back after my first mammogram two weeks ago. And since I was really nervous about the biopsy that I had this morning, I wanted to share the experience, hoping that it might ease the fears a bit for someone who is where I was last week.

So, although they were not very clear about whether I was going to get a stereotactic core biopsy or an ultrasound-guided one, because they could see the lump through ultrasound, that's what I got. I was prepped by the nurse who explained the procedure and showed me examples of the metal clips they were going to insert and then by the fellow (teaching hospital) who explained the exact same procedure somewhat less effectively than the nurse.  

I was feeling pretty nervous--had a little nausea at this point. They then had me take off the gown and lie down on my back on the table. They cleaned the breast with some extremely stinky antiseptic, and located the mass using ultrasound (a little gloppy and chilly because of the contact gel, but not painful in the least) then the radiologist came in. She suggested that they attempt to aspirate the mass just to make sure it wasn't a cyst before doing the biopsy. So, the fellow gave me the numbing injection. Honestly, not nearly as bad as getting a shot of novocaine for dental work. It stings a little bit, but I'd say it's maybe a little less painful than the sting of a scratch from my kitten who pays no attention to the difference between jumping off my legs and jumping off the sofa, claw-wise--slightly worse than getting blood drawn from someone good at blood draws, for those of you who are catless. They then stuck in the thin needle to attempt to aspirate it. I couldn't feel anything, though I could see the needle (and the mass) on the ultrasound screen. I am a bit squeamish, so I wasn't sure what I'd feel comfortable watching, but the ultrasound with it's shadows and grayscale didn't seem too ick.

They were not able to aspirate it, so they withdrew the small needle and then gave me an additional shot deeper in the breast tissue for the core needle. I couldn't feel that shot at all. They then told me to tell them if I felt anything sharp and made the incision for the core needle. I didn't feel a thing (except the fact that they then put pressure on the breast in order to stop bleeding before putting in the core needle). They then inserted the core needle, which I confess I did not look at. It's not a small needle and I was already feeling a little nauseated. But, I didn't feel it at all. I watched the ultrasound as they guided the needle in to the mass. They then told me that they were going to take the sample and I'd hear a loud click. It reminded me very much of the sound (and movement) ear piercing guns make. No pain, though.

They then withdrew the needle (I had thought that they took all the core samples without withdrawing the needle and I was concerned when they withdrew it) and took the sample over to the side to examine it. The nurse applied pressure after they withdrew the needle. The doc and the fellow (also a doc, I know) said that the sample looked good and they would probably only need one or two more. I asked them if they were going to make a second hole and they assured me that they would insert the needle into the same incision that they had already made. They then inserted the needle again. The only experience was feeling the doctor who was inserting the needle strain a little to get it into the right spot. Apparently breast tissue (or the tissue of the mass) is pretty solid. I tried not to think about that part--needles touching bone is nails-on-a-chalkboard to me and having to push kind of hard to get the needle in place wasn't something I wanted to consider too carefully. They took another sample (another ear-piercing gun sound/no pain). They withdrew the needle and examined that one and decided that they had enough with those two. They then said they were going to insert the metal clip. I jokingly asked for the curlicue one, but they already had the breast cancer ribbon one all ready. The metal clips, by the way, are little very thin wire shapes, about a millimeter long. They then inserted the clip. The fellow, who had struggled already getting the core sample needle in place had more trouble strength-wise getting the needle in place for the clip insertion. She eventually asked the other doctor to assist. Again, a little unpleasant to think about--la la la, looking at other things and not thinking about it! Once that was in place, they withdrew the needle and pressure was applied to stop the bleeding.

They then had me put back on the gown and go to the room next door for a mammogram in order to make sure they'd put the clip in the right place. I had asked the fellow if this would hurt, since they had just stuck a large needle in the area they were going to then squish. To be fair, English was not her first language, but she told me that it probably would hurt and that it would be the worst part of the procedure. As I was getting the gown on, I asked the nurse how long the numbing meds would last. She said about half an hour. So . . .  I realized that it was very unlikely that I'd feel anything at all with the mammogram. And that turned out to be the case. No pain whatsoever. I did tell the fellow that it was not painful since I was still numb--just for her future reference. Sigh. There's still some room for improvement in the bedside manners curriculum, apparently. Thank goodness the nurse with very good bedside manners was there.

They took me back to the ultrasound room and the nurse bandaged me up with instructions not to take off the dressing for a day and to let the steri-strip that they used to close the incision to fall off by itself. She then gave me a gift bag (a plastic, red, polka-dotted bag with two chemical ice packs, info about what to do for pain or complications, and a breast cancer notebook ( "Courage Hope Strength") with a pink ribbon pen. Sort of hilarious--I was tempted to ask what sort of gift bag I got if this turned out to be cancer.

I had (on their suggestion) taken the day off, which was good because I didn't sleep much last night. So, I took a long nap with my kitten when I got home. It's now almost 12 hours after the procedure started, and I have not had any pain worth talking about (and I'm a great believer in using meds to eliminate pain when needed). I used one of the ice packs mostly because it's fun to use chemical packs, but I haven't had to take any Tylenol.

So . . . I know not everyone is the same and I certainly don't want to invalidate anyone else's experience. But mine was, honestly, pretty darn easy. So, if you are about to go through this, I hope this helps to calm your fears a little.  

Therese48, what is the difference between stereotactic and core biopsies? I thought that they were the same thing . . . I go in for biopsy tomorrow and have heard "stereotactic" "core" and "ultrasound-guided" as descriptions of the procedure. I have to admit, that the shock of this whole process (going in for my first mammogram--turned 40 a couple of months ago--and them finding problems) might have caused selective brain functioning. My expectation is that tomorrow I'll go in, they'll give me numbing meds (which will be a little painful, but really probably not much more than having a shot of novocaine in my mouth, which is more sensitive than my breast), then they'll use the ultrasound that they used to find the mass to locate it. They'll stick a very large needle (I am a little worried about passing out when I see the size of the needle) into the mass and get some samples. I am really hoping this will be done with me on my back instead of stomach (I have a herniated disk in my back which makes lying on my stomach really painful). I don't know how long I'll have to wait for results.

Am I more or less on track with my expectations? I'm reasonably tough, but I really like to be in control--so, knowing exactly what to expect will be a big, big help in keeping the nerves in check. 

Wow, Anne, your surgeon "just knew" it was cancer before the results were in?! That's seriously horrible. I hope you were able to go to a different surgeon! Here I am thinking that the radiologist is trying to ease my fears by telling me what I want to hear--it would be FAR worse to have her tell me terrifying news without any real evidence. 

Thanks for the advice--good to remember to keep things in perspective!

Astrid/kayakgrrl 

I went in today for the second round of mammography. Turns out I have some benign calcifications in the left breast, but a mass in the right that they couldn't diagnose. So, I have to go back for a biopsy next week. I could see it when they did the ultrasound--apparently, it's about the size of a pea. The doctor said these are often fibroadenomas. But, I can't get an appointment for the biopsy until next week, and they won't have the results for a few days on that . . . so, lot of time to worry. Sigh.

 Well, at least they told me the results of these tests right away! 

Thanks Dani and Marie! It feels very wimpy to be worrying so much about something that I know is very common when you both have actually gone through the real, big, bad, scary thing. I really appreciate your support, though! Knowing how many people have gone through the call back process and had it turn out ok is definitely reassuring.

 They didn't say anything except to call to schedule more tests (and then they didn't answer the phone all morning--I could go on and on about how much I hate my current hospital, but suffice it to say that lack of information is pretty much par for the course here).

imd--here's hoping that we both are out celebrating a clean bill of health next week!

Thank you all--wishing everyone a good weekend.