The more serious side of me

I try to stay chipper on here...when I'm having a down day or am just feeling off, I don't generally blog. But, there's a serious issue that I'll either have to tell everyone about individually or blog about. I also think it's important, and not something to be embarrassed by...and probably something we should all discuss more openly than we do.

So what is it already?

Boobs.

I had my yearly checkup last week with my lady doctor. She asked, like she does every year, if I've been good about doing monthly self breast exams. After I said yes, she asked if I've felt any lumps. The problem here is that I have lumpy boobs (sounds attractive, huh?), so I always feel lumps. I had told Chris that I was a little nervous about my yearly this time though because I thought I felt 2 odd lumps, although I didn't mention that to her.

After the exam, she asked if our baby plan was to start trying within the next year (perhaps) and then said that she wanted to get an ultra sound to look at two areas that concerned her. Apparently having babies ruins your boobs for quite a few years, and she didn't want to miss anything.

Good deal...she's being overly cautious. I do have breast cancer on both sides (Gma on Dad's side, Great gma on Mom's side), so it's good to be cautious.

The ultra sound was today. I was pretty good at keeping the mind set of 'wait to worry until there's something to worry about' up until I got there. The place I went to is the Susan Cheek Needler Breast Center. It's a warm and cozy place, and I think most women are there for their annual mammograms. Which means they're 40's, 50's, 60's, etc...

I stuck out like a sore thumb. I felt like a little kid. I think I was scared like a little kid because of all of the sad looks I got before I even got back to the exam room. I'm 28...it's obvious I'm not there for a mammogram. They won't even do one on me (thank god) because I'm too young. I've actually been through all of this a few years back and everything came back a.ok (and no one looked at me with those puppy dog sad eyes in the waiting rooms either).

So anyways, when the tech came in to do the ultra sound, I think she could tell I was nervous. She took some pics of the spots my lady doc had written down, and sent in the radiologist. I told the radiologist the same song and dance that I had told my lady doctor and she did an exam too. As she put her ice cold hands on my boobs, she says "oh my goodness, you DO have lumpy boobs!!". Gee thanks doc.

She had the tech come back in and ultrasound a few more areas of concern.

Diagnostic: Gray. Not good, not bad. There's a few lumps that don't feel like cysts (those move) and are new growths (bad - they have my ultrasounds from a few years back to compare to) but are small (good) and are most likely benign tumors (also good).

So what now? I had a lump removed when I was 18 that was a benign tumor. The reason they removed it was because I was going to college, and they knew monitoring it would be difficult. I'm now on the monitoring plan with these new lumps. I go back in 6 months to see if they've grown any (they measured them) and if they haven't, I think I do it once or twice more and then I'm good to go. If they have...well, we take that road then.

I am very blessed to have so many friends and family that will want to be updated on this, and while it might seem like a personal matter, it really isn't. It's real, and it's something I really really hope all of you gals get checked out. Do I feel like repeating this same story to all of you? Not really :-), although I have no problem whatsoever discussing any of it with anyone! I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not a little scared and nervous about it, but that's just today. I'll go back to the mindset of not worrying until there's something to worry about soon enough and then repeat the cycle in 6 months. Fun times!

If you haven't yet, get your boobs checked! I'm 28...if I'm not too young for there to be 6 month checkups, then none of you guys are either!!! And for those of you that are old enough to get mammograms instead of ultra sounds, do me a favor and don't scare us 'kids' by giving us the sad puppy dog eyes. It makes us nervous!

I'll get off my podium now...time to go running with Chris and Kodi (and the neighborhood dogs...that's another blog) anyways! Have a great night!