Monday, 26 July 2010
I called my best friend, slightly anxious. This was not because of the lump in my right breast, mind you, it was mainly because I needed to urgently see a gynaecologist but did not have one! Yes, I am 37 (then 36) and I have not been to a gynae in years. This is a sensitive subject and I feel rather embarrassed to admit this.
In the good old days, I had a gynae, we all did! A couple of us used to all go together, making consecutive appointments, and then all meet for drinks afterwards, celebrating our womanhood and well-being (any excuse). As far as I remember, he was nice enough until one of us had a bad cyst experience – a cyst he apparently failed detect.
In all honesty, I have had 5 years to recruit a new gynae. But no luck...
So the Monday morning my bf got me the name of a reputable female gynae, in town, hopefully available. I knew that waiting for weeks would probably be my only option to get an appointment. But I managed to get one for the Friday. And soon afterwards, I received a call saying there has been a cancellation and I can come in on the following day, Tuesday. What can I say, it was meant to be...
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Off to my new gynae! She turned out to be a lovely woman, from Belgium, and although I was very nervous, she did make me feel comfortable and at ease. Firstly, I answered the routine questions. After the red tape was finalised, the usual physical examination, papsmeer and sonar tests were done. Turns out I have a cyst on my one ovary and a fibroid is looming around somewhere too. But more importantly, the lump is real.
We now needed to find out if what was inside the lump, was benign or not. This procedure is called a biopsy. There are 2 types of biopsies: needle and surgical. In my case, we opted for the least invasive biopsy, a Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) – quick to do, as opposed to a surgical procedure. It only took a minute or two. And it wasn't painful, just sensitive.
The next step was waiting for the results. She said that it would take around 4–5 days but that she would try and pressure them to have it ready by the Friday...
cyst: any closed cavity or sac that is lined with epithelium (tissue composed of cells); they often contain air, fluids or semi-solid material
fibroid/fibroma: a benign tumour consisting of fibrous or connective tissues; they can grow in all organs
biopsy: procedure that involves getting a tissue specimen for microscopic (pathology) analysis to establish a precise diagnosis
FNA: a fine needle syringe, similar to one used for drawing blood, is directly inserted into the lump; small amount of cells are sucked up into the syringe
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