Five years ago this month(October), I was diagnosed with breast cancer. But after radiation I was cancer free. So this month I felt like celebrating until I went for my yearly mammogram. The news wasn’t good. Something showed up and I needed to have a biopsy. When the radiologist and nurse gave me the news, I, of course, said “Oh, shit!” There was nothing else to say. So two days later I was in Providence Hospital for a needle biopsy. I didn’t know about those, but my hospital has wonderful equipment and facilities which are relatively new for that procedure. The only other alternative was a surgical biopsy in the hospital, and I had done that before and didn’t want to do it again. So what I had to do was lie on my stomach on a hospital bed with a big hole in it for my breasts to hang down through the hole! I had to lie still for about an hour and not move anything, especially not my head. When I first saw that bed, I felt like I was in some sort medieval torture chamber! The technician then did more mammograms while I was dangling my breasts through the hole to find just where the spot was. I was hoping I wouldn’t sneeze or cough, but I managed not to. I asked the tech,” What if my nose runs?” and she said, “Let it run.” So when she found the right spot which was not easy, the radiologist came in and ran a needle into my breast, reaching the spot and retrieving what he needed to send to pathology so they could make a decision on whether or not it was malignant or benign.

When all this was done, I had a hard time getting off the bed as I had been lying on it for an hour. The tech was helping me down and I reached for her and grabbed her breast! She laughed and seemed to think it was ok since she had been feeling mine for an hour. I think she’s my new BFF! All the people there were so good to me and I appreciate it more than they’ll ever know. I had never thought I would be in that position with my boobs hanging through a hole, waiting for someone to poke a needle in. But I’m so thankful I had that opportunity. In a couple of days, the doctor called me with very good news, so I was ready to live again. I was ecstatic! I had to celebrate but there was no one here with whom to celebrate. So I poured myself a glass of wine and sat down in my home clothes and celebrated by myself. I had been in my home clothes ever since the biopsy . . . just waiting for news.

There is one thing I don’t like about waiting in oncology offices . . . actually, there are many things. The main one being that I have to be there at all. I don’t read all the information about breast cancer as I already had it. I want to read something about gossip like “People” and “Esquire.” But I did pick up a card that really impressed me. It lists five things to tell your friends about breast cancer. No. 2 was the best and most hard hitting. It read, “The two most important risk factors for breast cancer are being a woman and growing older.” They sure got that right.