The story so far: How I found out

On September 17, 2006, I felt a lump on my left breast while I was taking a shower. It was big enough to feel pretty easily (I was not doing a breast self exam) and a little tender. I called my gynecologist to make an appointment, and saw her that Thursday, September 21. She was not overly concerned, but advised that I get a breast ultrasound. She said that if it was liquid-filled, it could be drained then and there. Otherwise, they might need to take a biopsy.

I had my ultrasound on Wednesday, September 27. The radiologist said that since it was palpable (to which my inner response was “yeah, no kidding, I felt it ten days ago”), he advised a fine needle biopsy (done with a little needle with no ultrasound guidance required) rather than a core biopsy (bigger needle, requires local numbing agent, ultrasound guided). I called my gynecologist and asked if I should schedule the biopsy at the same facility, but she advised that I meet with a woman she recommended who is the head of the Breast Center at St Luke’s-Roosevelt, just in case.

I could not get an appointment for the week of October 2 and traveled to Los Angeles with Michael for the weekend of October 7 to meet his brother Stuart and Stuart’s girlfriend Anna, and then went straight from there to Las Vegas for work for a couple of days. So the first appointment I could get was Friday October 13. Fortunately (unfortunately?), I am not superstitious.

Friday, I had meetings in the morning and afternoon, and left work around 3 to go meet Dr. Rosenbaum Smith at St Luke’s-Roosevelt. After an exam, she took a fine needle biopsy, and also did an ultrasound. At the time, she assured me the lump looked like a normal fibroadenoma, nothing to be concerned about, and probably would not need to be removed unless it grew beyond its current 2.7 cm size. She said she would call with the biopsy results on Monday, and we set up a follow-up appointment to check on its size in December.

Michael and I spent a lovely weekend feeling very relaxed, reassuring my parents and the few close friends I had told about the lump that it looked like I was going to be fine. We met friends out for drinks on Friday to celebrate my friend Sorrel’s visit to New York from Cleveland and her upcoming move back to London. We took endless goofy photos and danced on the banquettes at the bar. Saturday night we cooked for our friends Greg and Sophia. Sunday was spent eating blueberry pancakes and reading The New York Times with Sorrel and another friend, Karin, in New York for a brief visit before heading back to her UN posting in Sudan.

I went to work Monday feeling renewed and ready to take on the challenges of a couple of different projects now that the scare was behind me. Until I received the phone call around 2:30 that afternoon from my doctor: “I’m calling to tell you that your test came back positive for cancer.”