2nd Biopsy: Cancer or No Cancer?

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My lumpectomy was cancelled on Friday because of a possible 2nd malignancy in the same breast.

Since they found the second little spot on my mammogram, and it was on the opposite side of the breast near the chest plate, the biopsy procedure is just a little bit different than the first time.

The first biopsy was done on the ultrasound table with a little hole puncher-like gun. It is quite painful but the incision is so small, it closed really fast and my arm was sore for a few days.

This chest lump biopsy was totally different. First, the put a big sticker on my butt with a cord hanging from it to "ground" me so I wouldn't get electrocuted! Then I climbed up to this hard table with a hole in the middle of it. You lie on your stomach and put the boob in question in the circle through the table. There is a small mammogram x-ray machine under the table so it has a lift like a mechanic's lift for a car.

Up, up, up I went, and the doc and radiologist slide in under the table. I wondered what my boob looked like hanging through the hole. They took the boob and placed it in the mammo. Then they press really hard. I must admit, this hurt more than a regular mammo because on Friday they put a huge needle through my nipple, remember? Not to mention, the tumor is on that side too and it hurts if you press it. Basically…boobs just hurt when you punch them.

While my boob is pressed in the mammo vice, the doc is taking live x-ray to find the 6-mm. spot they want to punch out. Once they located it, they have another type of needle gun, but much bigger. It really looks like the drill I have at home fashioned with a very long drill bit that has a basket that will shoot out of it and capture the "specimen". They have to put the drill bit inside the boob and take more pictures to make sure it is in the correct place so as to not make you go through the whole experience again.

They found the little lump (which is actually a merry-go-round of calcifications that are grouped together in a very suspicious shape), and on the count of three, turned on the needle and it started chomping away. Sounded like a vacuum. My instinct was to jump the hell out of the boob hole. And that is what the nurse was there for. She was holding my back in place, pinning me down so that I did not ruin the whole procedure.

That part is awful. But the most gruesome part is, the gun has a cauterizing feature, and when it is done with taking the specimen, it burns the area internally so it will not bleed and form a hematoma.

Now I know the smell of burning flesh. Very disturbing. Once that is all done, you would think they would let you out of the vice. They sent the specimen itself to get x-rayed and you must just wait there in the same position until they come back with the x-ray. It must show that it has the spot they wanted. If it doesn't...you gotta do it again.

They did a great job and got it really good. In the absolute center of the specimen. They stuck a metal pin in me to position the spot on future x-rays and let me up. The incision is a lot bigger than I expected. And the pain is a lot more intense than the first biopsy. I think it is because my first biopsy is still healing, Friday's localization needle is still healing and this biopsy procedure just freakin' hurts more.