BOOB VISES (VICES?), BORINGS & MORE…

My perky OBGYN (I was surprised it was she and not a nurse) examined me and said, hey- better go in for an ultrasound. 99 out of 100 no problem, but you should check. I went in for an appointment the next morning, delaying our New Year’s trip to the mountains. I was the youngest one in there by about 20 years. From the ultrasound to a mammogram (which I must note that mom was not kidding with the “boob in a vise” description).

DOMESTIC ENGINEER, EXTRODINARE
I must digress here and tell a funny story—during my mammogram, the nice technician asked me “what does your husband do?” I figured she assumed I didn’t work because she knew I have 2 small children. For some reason, the morning experiences and unease made it pretty important to me to make clear that I do, indeed, work. So, in what I thought was a very subtle way, said “my husband jokes with me that he’s the engineer because he got an undergrad degree in engineering, but I’m the REAL engineer.”
“Oh,” she smiled sweetly, “the domestic engineer!”
(when I told my husband this story at this point I believe he actually gasped)
“Actually,” I said “I have a PHD in engineering, but I think the domestic engineering part is harder.”

Back to the vise-- Yup, there it is—2ish cm and not filled with fluid. Better get a biopsy. I don’t remember the radiologist looking me in the eye during the 20 seconds she spent with me, but I didn’t really have an indication that it was anything too worrisome.
The lady who makes the appointments (why couldn’t someone else make an appointment?) wasn’t in on Friday, and Monday was the New Year holiday so I had to wait until Tuesday to make an appointment. Note that I am NOT a patient person. But I have to give myself credit that I didn’t dwell on it much once the appointment was set up for the following Monday. I may not be patient, but I am an engineer after all, and what logic is there is worrying about something that 1) you don’t know to be true 2) is statistically unlikely to happen?

Some drama with which parent got to accompany me to the procedure. How lucky am I that people are fighting to take me to medical appointments?
I found the biopsy technically interesting—something on par to a soil boring in my world. The use the ultrasound to guide the needle and then shoot out a little scooper to take ~5 samples. It didn’t hurt. I’m not afraid of needles, which I think is going to be a really good thing. Still didn’t worry much. What was the point?