Lupus and Doctors: Mammograms and Biopsies and Ultrasounds, Oh my!

It's time to update you on those multiple appointments I had a couple of months back - all of which stemmed from my one annual gynecologist appointment. 

Yup - I'm still harping on the "one doctor appointment that turns into three" phenomenon. 

I'm experiencing it now myself, but I remember it happening when I was caring for my dear, sweet mom, as well, which you can read about here. I just knew each doctor's visit would yield at least two more appointments - a follow up, a referral, an order for labs or imaging, or all of the above. 

While all of these appointments are important - they're exhausting. And time consuming. And sometimes worrisome.  

I wasn't too worried after my annual gynecologist appointment. I've had mammograms for years now, many of which showed something irregular, which needed an immediate follow up mammogram.

Which was the case again this year. 

But that follow up mammogram resulted in the need for further exploration in the way of a biopsy. 

Okaaaaay. 

It's not my first biopsy (first one was on a suspicious lymph node years ago that seems to come and go with lupus activity) - but still, not the best news. I prefer the "let's watch and repeat imaging in six months" plan, but that wasn't the way forward this time. 

So I had my first breast biopsy. 

And it came back with what I believe they call pre-cancer cancer. It's not cancer. But it's not nothing. There are abnormalities that are concerning, and we need to address them. 

Based on the results of that biopsy, my doctors wanted to biopsy two more sites that exhibited the same patterns. I knew this was a possibility, so it wasn't shocking. But it meant more appointments - which I suppose was just fodder for this post right here! 

I've since had the other two sites biopsied, and had a follow-up ultrasound with my breast surgeon whom I began seeing years ago when my mammos first started showing irregularities.

We've decided to excise one small section to remove additional cells from two of the biopsied sites. From there, we'll determine next steps, if any. 

It's an outpatient procedure, requires no reconstructive surgery, and the surgeon claims that it will have fewer complications than my biopsies - one of which was not fun at all. 

That said, I debated on sharing, as this isn't lupus related, and I figured I would wait until things developed further. But two things happened - one, I decided to write a post about one appointment morphing into three, and this was a perfect example. And two, a friend asked me for help with a carpool because she was a having a follow up mammogram with the possibility of the need for a biopsy. My exact predicament! We've since compared notes - each us having undergone our first breast biopsy - and I thought others might want to share, too. 

So the floor is open. Email or comment, if you like!