What Fibroadenoma Taught Me About Life
Health Life

What a Breast Cancer Scare Taught Me About Life

What Fibroadenoma Taught Me About Life

A few months ago, I entered my doctor’s office for my yearly check-up. I had no reason to think the appointment would be anything but ordinary. I had been feeling fine, or at least as fine as a full-time working mother with two small children can feel. That I had a breast lump, which my doctor would find during her exam, never crossed my mind. And while the lump turned out to beĀ fibroadenoma, a non-cancerous breast mass common among teens and young women, the experience leading up to the diagnosis taught me a great deal about life.

In the midst of our hectic lives, it’s easy to let our health slip between the cracks. Other aspects of our daily routines take precedence, including our children and our careers. For me, I was so focused on my teaching responsibilities and my younger son’s stroke-related health issues, I never considered anything might be wrong with me. So when my doctor informed me I would need a mammogram and ultrasound to see whether the breast lump she found was a concern, I was shocked. I am only in my thirties; mammograms are for women over 40, aren’t they?

As I waited for my turn in the mammography department of my local hospital, I picked up a breast health pamphlet to peruse. What I read terrified me.

The number and severity of cancerous breast masses far exceeded my knowledge base. I instantly regretted my ignorance about breast cancer. How could I have remained so uninformed, so oblivious to potential warning signs? How could I have believed that just because I was relatively young, I was not susceptible to something as serious as cancer?

The mammogram, while not as unpleasant as rumored, did nothing to ease my mind. I could clearly see a distinct mass on the technician’s reading, a mass unlike anything else present on either breast. When the technician reported that the doctor had ordered an ultrasound to further investigate, an indescribable dread pervaded my being.

The walk down the hall to the ultrasound room was eerily quiet. Though she did not say so, I sensed the nurse leading the way pitied me. Was whatever had taken up residence in my breast worthy of pity? I shuddered at the thought.

Unlike the ultrasounds I had experienced during my pregnancies, there was nothing cheerful about this one. The technician did not chat me up about my personal life. Instead, she went about her business, expressionless. It was methodical. Cold.

I began to anticipate the worst. Were this indeed cancer, I wondered how my family would manage. Between my son’s numerous appointments for his hemiplegia and cerebral palsy and our packed work schedules, where would we find room for chemotherapy or radiation? What would happen if those treatments didn’t work? How would my children grow up without me?

I turned my head away from the technician, not wanting her to see the tear streak down my cheek.

In the end, my physician determined I needed a biopsy, and after having the lump removed, we learned it was benign. I had fibroadenoma and nothing more.

To say I was relieved is an understatement. But just because the results came back non-cancerous does not change what I learned from the experience. Despite how unpleasant it was, I am thankful for it, for fibroadenoma taught me a great deal about life.

My family and my career are important, but so is my health. I am not invincible, no matter how young or healthy I feel, and taking care of myself in addition to others is a necessity, not an option. Life is for living and for spending time with loved ones. Nothing must stand in the way of that – not work, not chores, and certainly not neglecting my health.