I found a lump in my breast
in the shower one morning; I
was 36 years old and 35 weeks
pregnant at the time. At first I
thought it must simply be a
clogged up milk gland or due to
my pregnancy; I really wasn’t
worried. The lump was actually
visible when I looked down. It
was about the size of a small
marble and seemed to have
appeared overnight. I called my
doctors later that day and told
the nurse about the lump. She
called back the following morning to tell me they’d scheduled
me for an ultrasound and mammogram the following week.
My mother had breast cancer
at 32, which may be what
prompted them to jump on it
the way they did. All I know is, I
almost didn’t call. When I went
in for the tests the lady took
one look at my huge belly and
said, “I can’t give you a mammogram, you’re pregnant!” I
had to laugh, I’d noticed that
myself. So they did the ultrasound. The technician brought
the Radiologist in after her exam and he did a second ultrasound. And then we did the
mammogram after all, with me
wearing one of those shields
like the dentist puts over your
body when he takes x-rays tied
like an apron over my belly.
Yes, I looked as silly as you
might imagine! And even
though I laughed, that was
about the time I started to worry that maybe this time it wasn’t
just a false alarm. You see, this
hadn’t been my first mammogram, or ultrasound. My mother’s history of cancer had
prompted me to start checkups
when I was 25. Ironically, I had
been scheduled for a mammogram the day after I found out I
was pregnant, so naturally I
had canceled it. My doctor’s office called me right after I got
home; they’d scheduled a biopsy for the following day. My surgeon, Dr. Sandra Gladding,
was wonderful; I was so
blessed to have her. She immediately treated me as if I
were family. I’m not sure why
really, perhaps it was because I
tried to make her and her staff
laugh at my appointment, or
because I was 36 weeks pregnant and scared to death, or
just because she has a huge
heart. She did her best that day