The Stereotactic Core Biopsy - Reality is setting in

I learned on Tuesday that I needed a biopsy of my left breast to check out an area that my surgeon and radiologist felt warranted extra attention given my diagnosis on the right side. So this morning, I took my girls to school then headed to the radiologist's office for another biopsy.

UCSF explains the Sterotactic Core Biopsy as, "Stereotactic core biopsy was developed as an alternative to surgical biopsy. It is a less invasive way to obtain the tissue samples needed for diagnosis. This procedure requires less recovery time than does a surgical biopsy, and there is no significant scarring to the breast. Your physician, the radiologist and you may consider this type of biopsy when there is an abnormality found on a mammogram that cannot be felt."

Here is how it works in reality - you lay on a table with a hole cut out for your breast (btw, the tables are not really made for women taller than 5'8"!). While you lay there, the breast is mushed into a mammogram machine under the table while the radiologist looks at real-time views to locate the "area of interest". Once it is located and he's marked up the breast with magic marker, they make a small incision and insert a needle that is attached to a vacuum that sucks out cells from the area. Then, the cells are sent off to be X-rayed and the patient (me) gets mushed some more to stop the bleeding (try making small talk with a woman holding your boob for 15 minutes!). After all that, you go get a mammogram of the breast they just biopsied (seriously unfun). Now, this is certainly nothing like the surgical biopsy I had a few weeks ago, but really not a cake walk, either.

Afterwards, I was given directions to go home and lie down for 2 hours then rest at home the remainder of the day. So of course, I went home, decided I felt just fine, packed my bra with an ice pack and went to work. Seriously bad idea. The numbing medication wears off a couple of hours after the procedure and things get quite painful. And, if one has not been resting, you feel really bad, too. Next time, LISTEN to the resting advice.

After the procedure, my radiologist came to talk with me. He works closely with my surgeon and knows my diagnosis. I'd already told him that, if the biopsy showed anything at all, the left side would have to go with the right side. So I suppose he wanted me to have all of the information. He explained that with this type of biopsy, the collection is only a small portion of the cells. If I keep the left breast, her wants me back in 6 months and then every six months for a couple of years. And, if anything changes, a full biopsy will have to be done. Great.

With all of the advances in breast cancer treatment, it seems that the only real way to be sure it doesn't advance or come back is to have the breasts removed. I understand that mastectomies today are not as radical as in the past in terms of lymph node removal, but removing the breasts is just that. I do get that reconstruction is an option, but not immediately, at least not in my case.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with a friend of a friend who has gone through this already and decided to do a double. Reality is setting in that I probably shouldn't try to keep either breast.