I just had my first ever breast biopsy......ask me anything.

[dixiegrrrrl]

Like a lot of people, the idea of getting a needle any way near that soft tissue gave me cold chills..... they use a needle to numb the area, which is the thing I was dreading.

Usually the nurses/techs say something comforting like " It is like a mild bee sting"
Well, my memory of bee stings did not contain the concept of "mild"

Had to laugh, tho, when the tech gave it a Southern twist...."It is like a mild fire ant bite".

So...ask away....

[tonyt53]

1. Not going to ask, but simply say that I hope the results are positive.

[MFM008]

2. My mom just went through it

They took 12 biopsy due to calcifications.
Everything came out fine.
Hope same for you.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Was she surprised the biopsy was painless????

Calcification seems to be mentioned a LOT in discussion of breast problems.

[PJMcK]

3. Only good wishes, dixiegrrrrl (n/t)

[Ms. Toad]

5. I've just had 3

Along with a breast cancer diagnosis, a radioactive injection into the tumor (very similar procedure) and a partial mastectomy. Radiation is on deck, starting early August.

The first for diagnosis, the 2nd (lymph node biopsy) and 3rd (MRI guided biopsy of a second lesion) to explore spots missed by my former surgical oncologist and radiologist when they reviewed the MRI to make sure we didn't remove one spot and leave two others.

The numbing agent is the worst - but no worse than novocaine for dental work. Doing the biopsy without the numbing agent would be worse.

I hope your results are negative!

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. They did core needle biopsy, and I did not feel a thing.

Maybe a teensy sensation like if you gently poked a sewing needle onto your skin quickly.
I am lying there all tensed up, waiting, till I hear the sound of a loud stapler gun, and realize I am totally numb.
That night, I felt sore, took 2 Tylenol.

I had heard so many scare stories of the procedure, so wanted here to dispel them, at least by what I felt.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Three different groups of people did mine -

three different procedures.

ultrasound guided core biopsy (radiologist)
lymph node biopsy (baby doc who was terrified I'd bleed out because I had a single aspirin nearly 24 hours earler)
MRI guided core biopsy (radiologist at a different institution from the first)

I'd describe all 3 as more painful than yours, but only as to the numbing aspect. No pain once the area was numb. It was really much more like the numbing injections for dental work - multiple needle sticks accompanied by minor pain as they injected the lidocaine. On the third biopsy they got close to the edge of the numb area - making it uncomfortable, but not painful (and they would have stopped and used more lidocaine if I had asked).

The injection of the radioactive material pre-partial mastectomy was worse, due to the lack of numbing medication. Just multiple jabs into the tumor without initial numbing. (Note: this is not the normal procedure - I had two prior surgeries in the area and the lymphatic system might have been compromised enough that their normal blue dye injected during surgery would not have been effective to find the sentinel nodes.)

I've only heard scare stories from my mother - who does not handle medical adventures well. It took her weeks to acknowledge she had breast cancer & then needed two guard dogs to ensure they treated her properly in recovery.

[irisblue]

6. best wishes

When will you hear about your biopsy results? I was a mammo tech for years, my radiologists had a policy for a 24 hr turn around. Keeping a patient waiting seemed cruel.

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. Radiologists come into the room right after all procedures

Mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy, which ever is being done that day, and give me info.
So I know the results now, after 2 tests over 3 weeks, and will be meeting with surgeon tomorrow.
In fact, when I knew the biopsy was back from the lab, I called my doc, they gave me the usual "doc says you need to come on in and talk with her"
to which I replied "You have told me the results, just now, with that sentence, so ask doc to give the details NOW over the phone,
I am too sore and creaky to drive down there in this heat"
( all of that works real well here.... )
and she gave her nurse permission to read the big words to me( poor thing did struggle a bit), and I asked them to make an appt with one of the surgeons in town, who I knew was good because one of my neighbors taught him in Sunday School and the other neighbor knows his family from way back and....on a more serious note.... he specializes in breast cancers.
Turns out I have a rare one, "in situ" in the milk duct, with high recovery chances, usually doesn't spread, etc.

Gotta say, the folks up the street at our local hospital are all extremely nice...part of that is baked in to the Southern friendliness down here, the other is most folks know most other folks somewhere along the line, and you keep talking until a common name leaps out, then it's like you are one big happy family, because they found out your neighbor's niece is a friend of the family that lived down the street that I met 10 years ago.
Insanely convoluted and great fun to have the "discovery" conversation.

[Ms. Toad]

15. Same here -

the only waiting is for the biopsy results. The day they did the biopsy, the doc agreed to call me with the results the day they came in.

I did read her the riot act for not being more forthcoming about what she thought before the biopsy came back.

Good luck!

Mine has turned out to be more of an inconvenience than anything else - it has really turned my summer upside down. Radiation in about a month. Fun! Not!

FWIW, DCIS is not that rare (about 20% of all breast cancers).

[Nay]

7. "Mild bee sting" my ass. It hurt like hell. And the doc missed the tumor the first

time and had to do it again! I almost passed out. The nurse knew it wasn't a damn bee sting -- she had ahold of me like I was going to jump up and run out.

[Ms. Toad]

9. Find a different provider for the next one.

I had two different providers for the 3 I had recently. None hurt beyond the numbing medication. Pressure, and the uncomfortable sensation of them digging around, but no pain. Even with the resulting large blue/purple/green bruise that resulted.

My guess is that they missed with the numbing medication, just like they missed the tumor (or didn't wait long enough). The fact that they had a nurse experienced enough to be holding you down suggests to me that messing up was not an uncommon experience. No one was even in a position to hold me down for any of my three.

Sorry.

[Nay]

11. Wlll do . . . Thanks.

[OnyxCollie]

8. Sending positive vibes for negative results.

[phylny]

10. Been there, done that,

here on the other side to say "Be well!"