Just Cysts…. These words ring back in my ears….  last April I was told the lumps I felt were “just cysts” and come back in a year…  Since I’ve been diagnosed… I’ve met several other women who were told that they had fibrous cysts or simple cysts…. and it turned out they ARE cancerous! I only wish I could go back in time and urge them to look into those cysts a little bit more…. In 7 months time, I had a tumor that presented itself…. but it did NOT show up on mammogram.. It could be felt and honestly it caused my breast to cave in, basically… from the nipple to the armpit… Had I been diagnosed earlier… maybe I could have avoided chemo altogether!

In my case – I was told I was healthy and those were EXACTLY the words I wanted to hear and honestly… I stopped checking my breasts!!! I figured they were just cysts… no big deal! I didn’t pay my breasts any attention from April – November when I happened to look in the mirror…. I’ve been asked repeatedly… how could you not tell? I guess the changes were gradual…. and unless I was looking in a mirror… from my view looking down it was not noticeable.

MRI is what ultimately diagnosed me… AND found some spots in my right breast…. On ultrasound, it appeared…. I have “cysts” in my right breast…. When the doctor went to biopsy my right breast, she told me she felt it was “just a cyst” and would aspirate upon the needle being inserted…. IT DID NOT.

I pray…. in our day and age with all the garbage we ingest and the processed foods we eat, the alcohol we drink….. maybe cysts aren’t just cysts anymore? I don’t think it’s coincidental that several people I’ve met now who’ve been told that their spots in their breast are “cysts”…. turned out to be cancerous….

I have a previous post… “Stick a Needle In It”…. seriously, if ever in question….. URGE them to stick a needle in it! It really isn’t all that painful as you might think… it’s tolerable.

In my case…. had my breasts been D’s… and I had more breast tissue, it’s ENTIRELY possible… that this time it would have been missed as well because my breast may not have shown any signs on the outside…  Mammogram November and Mammogram April looked identical side by side. My doctor said ONLY because of the way my breast was presenting…. did they really look further. And…. had they waited…. another year – I would probably be incurable with the cancer having spread to other areas of my body…. That’s incredibly scary!!! I’m so thankful this one time in my life that my breasts had the life sucked out of them…. and weren’t incredibly large.

On another note… I’d really like to thank Monica Reid and her husband from Monica Reid Photography for photographing our February 8th wedding… We are so incredibly thankful for you… and offering your services was incredibly generous and we are extremely thankful… My bride loved your work and it was a phenomenal fit for you both… I cannot wait to see the outcome of the photos!!!

For the past several days I’ve had some deep pain in my ribs…. which I’m hoping is from my Neulasta shot… but I go to see my surgical oncologist on Tuesday and I may ask for some additional tests… if it doesn’t stop…