The biopsy results are in..
10 August 2007, 3:31 PM

... and it is indeed benign. :-)

I've got a follow up appointment with the surgeon on Monday, and I'll likely find out more details then, but for now, that's good enough news.

The biopsy itself took place Wednesday morning, and was an interesting experience.

I had to get up several hours earlier than I usually do so I'm surprised I didn't just sleep through the whole thing. It was painless, except for a prick and slight burning sensation when the local anesthesia was applied. A small incision was made, which I didn't feel. I could hear the core biopsy needle gun make a loud pop, and I could see it entering and removing tissue on the ultrasound monitor, but I didn't feel a thing.

The staff (there were about four people there) were very nice and took good care of me. The male nurse who took all my medical history and wheeled me from one area to another was a hoot. I asked one of the radiologists afterward what the tissue actually looked like before they sent it off to pathology. She paused, searched for a description for a minute and then said, "Sorta of like shredded chicken...". Hah. :-)

They took four samples - the core needle making the popping noise four times - which pretty much made whatever it was disappear. I could see it getting smaller each time on the monitor. Finally, a tiny titanium wire was inserted I had a another mammogram done - just to be certain that what they were removing, guided by ultrasound, was what had showed up on the mammogram. Yup.

The incision was small enough that I didn't need stitches, but I did have to be careful not to lift anything heavy for the next 24 hours, or get the bandage wet. That wasn't hard to avoid, since I went straight home (after going out to lunch with my husband for some comfort Tex-Mex) and slept for the rest of the day. Once the local anesthesia wore off, the site did hurt a bit. It felt as if I'd been stabbed with a large needle, which, incidentally, I had been! Although I never drink, I had a glass of wine with dinner at the Italian restaurant we went to and was pleasantly surprised to find it worked better than Tylenol. :-)

By the next day the pain was gone and it just itched.

I'm so glad that's over.