Breast Cancer Awareness 2020

Approximately 1 in 8 women, in the course of their lifetime, will develop invasive breast cancer. In 2020, doctors have estimated 276,480 new cases of diagnosed invasive breast cancer in women, in the United States alone. Approximately 2,620 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in men in 2020. That doesn’t even include the 48,530 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer, something that affects both men and women. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 883. About 42,170 women in the U.S. are expected to die from breast cancer this year. 

Around the summer of 2018, I went for my very first mammogram, where they discovered two lumps in my breasts. One in my right and one in my left. Knowing that cancer runs in my family, I was obviously terrified. Both my mother and my aunt died from cancer. Both of them wasting away before their loved ones' eyes. 

I was told by my doctor that she found two medium sized cysts. I was then told about the two lumps in my breasts she found. I was also told that she still needed to run more tests to verify exactly what the two lumps were. She said that the lumps may be just lymph nodes, and nothing serious. Just in case though, to be 100% certain, she scheduled another mammogram and a breast ultrasound. 

The day I went to get the mammogram and breast ultrasound done, my stomach was in knots. I knew my friends and family were praying for me, so I tried to stay calm and think positive. It took what seemed like forever to get seen and have the new mammogram completed. Then just lots of sitting and waiting to see what needed to be done next. So there I am, just sitting in the dressing room, waiting to know, for what seemed like an eternity. Finally I was told that the lump in my left breast was just dense skin, and it was nothing to be concerned about. So I could relax a little. The lump in my right breast however, was still a concern. 

I then followed the nurse to a different room to have the breast ultrasound done. Lots of cold ultrasound gel, a cold air-conditioned room, and lots of poking and prodding with the ultrasound wand. It was very painful to have them push down that hard on the very sore spot where the lump was. The ultrasound took about 15-20 minutes. Then more waiting while the doctor looked at the ultrasound results. Finally, the nurse came in and told me that it was only a cyst. I was so relieved. In total, they found three cysts, two of which I was already previously told about. 

You never know what tomorrow may bring. For me, what could have been a malignant cancerous lump turned out to be a simple cyst. But I will never forget how badly it affected me emotionally, the fear of not knowing and the possibility of having breast cancer. All types of cancer should be taken seriously. So see your doctor regularly, have that monthly or yearly checkup, and get that mammogram done. It could just save your life. 

Source: https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/statistics