Some of you may know that I recently had a serious health scare. I was for the first time in my life faced with the idea that one day I could get terminally ill just like anyone else. I cannot believe how scary it actually is. Of course I had thought about it before but until I was actually being tested I never really thought about it. I had so many thoughts pass before me over a two week period it was terrifying.*
I am not sure how long I felt an itch because I just itched and itched. Then one day it occurred to me that I was so itchy and nothing was satisfying this itch. I also noticed that the itchy spot low on my breast was now an itchy patch of reddish raised skin. I still didn't think much of it. But the itch persisted. Slowly something in my subconscious began nagging me. I couldn't quite place my finger on it. It then started to surface as a memory of an email I had received ages ago. Still I left the thought and didn't really think about it.
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At my son's Doctor's appt I asked the Doctor to look at it. She did and thought nothing of it. A week later at my daughter's appt I told her I felt a lump in my armpit as well. She still didn't think much of it and said we'd look at it again at my January appt.
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My itching still persisted and it hit me - the email was about an itchy breast and breast cancer! My heart started to pound as I pieced together what I thought I remembered from the email. It was a warning to women about this exact symptom. I got on the computer and looked it up. Sure enough it was there. Inflammatory Breast Cancer. And the number one problem is that Doctor's tend to misdiagnosis.
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I called the Doctors office that morning, December 24th and asked to schedule an appointment. I thought I'd get one in January. They asked if I'd like to see a different Doctor that day. I was at my appointment in less than an hour. I still thought I'd just get transferred to a specialist in January. But this Doctor was great. he did not mind that I was self diagnosing and asked to read the information I had brought along. He said that he felt there was enough here to do a skin biopsy. Most surprising was that he did it right then! It did hurt but nothing major.
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Now the wait for the results started. I was extremely nervous and reading about the disease did everything to fuel my panic. To make matters worse the lump under my armpit got quite a bit bigger. Finally the first week of January I received the call. Seeing the number on my phone just about gave me a heart attack. Thankfully the results were good. It was likely just eczema. I still do have a worrisome lump under my armpit but I think it has shrunk of the last few days.
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I wanted to blog about this as a warning to other women. I got tested and yes I'll have a tiny scar and the results were negative - thank god. But this taught me to be my own advocate and ask for what I wanted. Although I was wrong I could have been right too.
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For more information on Inflammatory Breast Cancer visit this site and many others. This was the site that made me call my Doctor that day and demand an appointment.
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