Being on a bit of high coming back from Prague there was a bit of me that was in denial. I knew I had to mention it to someone it was getting the courage to do so.
A few weeks previous I had noticed on the left side of my chest was a small pea-sized lump. I had previously a biopsy on the right side as I had some soreness in around the center of the breast. It turned out to be fine and they said it was due to hormonal changes.
This new lump seemed different. It wasn’t sore or giving me any discomfort but what I did find it was a round disc shape, which was nothing like the lipomas I have in the rest of my body. Apparently, they are common and most are small lumps of fatty tissue that do nothing.
I tried initially to book an appointment online and it would be another month before I could see anyone. Taking the decision to have a word with the practice sooner, rather than later, turned out to be the sensible thing. They asked me to come to the surgery the same day and they would see me even if I had to wait a while.
A lovely doctor, who have seen before, examined me and she too found the same lump. She asked questions about family history and explained that she would refer me again to the breast clinic but this time I would only have to wait less than a week to be seen and it would be in a private hospital.
Not being sure if it was a government initiative to cut waiting times or the urgency to see a specialist that made that time quite short.
Then the ‘what ifs’ come. What would I do if it turned out to be cancer?
The mind then races and the worst thing you can do is look on the internet as this has millions of different stories and accounts of people’s experiences of being told they have a life-changing illness.
So Tuesday came and I had a mammogram and ultrasound on the area affected. It was the doctor performing this ultrasound that informed me that it was nothing to worry about another ‘fatty lump’. I had this confirmed when I went to so see the consultant surgeon.
The moral of this story is quite simple. I wasn’t going to leave something like this for another six months and hope it would disappear. That’s not an option. You face it and you move on. They say that most men who contract breast cancer do not survive it as they only seek medical help in the final stages of the disease. Men are stubborn. If you have a lump that you are unsure of please get it checked.
fredspoon 