Boobs, Biopsies, and Lumpectomies

Creeped out by where this post might be headed? You should be. It's going to get a little weird. But hang with me, I'm going somewhere with this.


As I mentioned here, I'd been scheduled to have a lumpectomy this month. That day came last week - Thursday actually.  

I'm hesitant to be so open about this because, well, its embarrassing. But that is precisely why I'm making myself be open about it.  Going into this procedure, I knew only one person who'd had a lumpectomy. I didn't even know many people with breast cancer despite its prevalence. I had no idea what to expect of the surgery other than it was probably going to suck.

Having now had a lumpectomy and being on the other side of the procedure, I feel a some sort of strange responsibility to be open about it, in hopes of making someone else's similar situation less foreign. Less worrisome. Less secret. I think its the right thing to do. And I'm hoping it will make up for all the church I've been missing since the late 90's.

So without further ado, let's get started.

Things you should know about a lumpectomy

1. Cosmetically speaking, you can't even tell I had anything done. I just have a thin, two inch scar.                                  


2. Pain wise, it's very bearable. Plus you get vicoden which I think we can all agree is a huge perk. (Not to be confused with percocet which would be cool too.)

3. Part of the process involves a nurse taping a styrofoam cup over your boob which I found to be very ghetto.

4. Technically I didn't even have a lumpectomy. While this is just a matter of semantics, a lumpectomy refers to removing a mass that is known cancer. Because what I had removed isn't cancer, the process should be called "excisional biopsy". 

5.You should get a 2nd opinion before undergoing any minor or major surgery.  I wrote a piece about that for Fem 2.0 which you can read here.


For those of you who did not care for this post, I don't blame you. It was sorta intense. If there are others, however,  that enjoyed reading about the female anatomy, may I suggest you take a peek at my post on New Years Eve.