If you find yourself in a situation like I was, in deep fear of a breast biopsy, I get it. You’re scared. You are searching for real breast biopsy stories to determine if you will be in pain. You want to know if the fear of the breast biopsy is warranted. Well, you have come to the right place.
Not only have I had a breast biopsy, but my fear is no joke.
Being Scared of a Breast Biopsy
I (Shannon) have had a goal each year. It isn’t a traditional resolution. It has been a goal that I have set for myself to stop saying words that revolve around fear. I often find myself saying, “I’m scared,” or “I’m afraid.” Even though I like to be adventurous and experience new things, I am a worrier. I live in a significant amount of fear.
My efforts have always been to be different than living in fear. I want to work on living in the now, with less fear. My anxiety about what is to come is terrible. My focus should be on enjoying the present.
Imagine going to get your mammogram and finding out that there is a suspicious area. The next steps are to go back. What actually happens for most is that the anxiety and fear set in. Test results in general are terrifying for most of us. You hear “abnormal finding” and you have basically diagnosed yourself with the worst.
Go Get Your Mammogram
Before we get into the biopsy, I’d be remiss if I didn’t just tell you to go get your mammogram. If it is your first mammogram, know that the fear you have in your head is way worse than what is reality. You look at this mammogram machine and think, “Oh God! This looks like a torture device”. It really isn’t bad.
I don’t dread it anymore and I dread almost every medical situation. It’s the only way to find breast cancer, and even better you can find it early.
That is all easy to say and do. You go for your annual screening mammogram, expecting all to be fine. Because I mean, when you go get your annual mammogram like you’re supposed to do, all is fine, right? I’m no dummy. I know better than that.
Once upon a time, I was the marketing director for a radiology practice. Half of my life during that time was consumed with promoting the importance of early detection of breast cancer. It was also all about breast cancer awareness. I know what happens to 1 in 8 women in the United States. You, or I, just hope and pray that we are not the 1. The 1 is who will get breast cancer in our lifetime. Even if you have never had any family members with breast cancer, it is still important to screen.
You should also know your risk factors. If you want to dive deeper into your own situation, you can bring a list of questions to your breast clinic, or to your general provider. Fear tends to make it so that we cannot remember our questions. Always advocate for your own health.
Additional Views
Ok, so you get your mammogram and you get a callback. The dreaded callback.
So, imagine my fear when I get the call that I need to return. They wanted me to return to have additional views due to something being seen on an image of my left breast. Further testing is not something you want to hear at all. I decided that it was just going to be something that they needed to do. Surely, the tech just didn’t get a very good image, and I would be walking out of there, no problemo.
Well, I was saying that aloud, but inside, I was scared. I was also trying to remember my goal and keep those thoughts away. I returned and was told that due to the appearance of the probable calcifications, which could also be cancer. It would be recommended that I have a biopsy. That is really, the short story. No point in getting into the long, drawn-out details, but just know that fear ensued.
The Fear Took Over
Fortunately, due to that past position, I had with the radiology practice, I was able to reconnect with a renowned, well-respected breast specialist, Dr. Ericka Griffin in Greenville, North Carolina, who is not only top in her field, but despite her saying it was no big deal, she not only consulted me on my images but agreed to perform my biopsy for me. I’d say I happily obliged, but you don’t happily go into a breast biopsy. I had the biggest fear of a breast biopsy.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I wasn’t sobbing on the phone to her, like a child, fearful of her advice to have the biopsy. Hearing Dr. Griffin, the expert, advise as to why she felt like I needed it, of course, made me feel as though I was in great care. It also made me terrified that I was in the situation I had seen so many other women in.
Dr. Griffin worked me into her schedule the very next day. She’s a saint. Again, she would disagree, saying it was nothing, but for me, it was everything.
The fear of the breast biopsy took over my entire body for the next 19 hours. It was almost unbearable. I was absolutely petrified. Working was not an option. I couldn’t eat, think, sleep, hell, I couldn’t even imagine driving to the appointment.
My mom drove 3 hours to be with me because even though I’m a grown-ass woman, I still want my mom when I’m scared. Having emotional support in times like these is paramount.
What was I afraid of?
Being cared of the breast biopsy itself, yes. I was also afraid of the biopsy results. My fear made me question how my life would change if it was cancer.
Dr. Griffin said that, if it were to be cancer, we were more than likely looking at DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma in Situ): cells that line the milk ducts of the breast that have become cancerous, but they have not spread into surrounding breast tissue, Stage 0.
If that were to be the case, the treatment plan would most likely be to have surgery and some radiation. So, my mind prepares for the worst but puts positive vibes out there, and makes every attempt to envision the best result, but I, of course, was about as fearful as I could be.
Fear did not win.
Here’s the thing. As much as I allow fear to enter my life, I did not, nor will not allow it to control the ending here. If I were to let fear win, I wouldn’t have gone to get the mammogram, and I surely wouldn’t have gone to get the biopsy.
By the way, let’s talk about that biopsy, because as much as I Googled, and ladies, I GOOGLED! I didn’t find many comforting things about breast biopsies, so let me be the one to tell you that the thoughts of a needle entering my breast literally left me lightheaded and wanting to run for the border. That is, if I didn’t pass out and vomit before getting there.
But it was no big deal. Truly! Now, Dr. Griffin is also, ahhh-mazing, and I recommend you seek her for a referral if you ever need one, but seriously, it was absolutely NOTHING, especially with what I created in my head, and I had even seen them before, during my training process while at the radiology practice. Seeing one, and experiencing are two different things. Seeing one was much worse.
Now, with that being said, I have heard from other women, after the heard my story and said they had a lot of pain. One in our comments even mentioned the “blunt needle”. I will tell you that the needle that was used during my biopsy was not dull. I mean look, it has to be a large hollow needle, big enough to get a small amount of breast tissue to send to pathology.
The process consists of a guided breast MRI that allows the radiologist or breast surgeon to get to the area of concern.
Taking the Fear Away From the Process
I had a stereotactic biopsy. I want to talk about this procedure so that if you find yourself reading this and wondering what the experience is like, I want to tell you exactly what it was like for me, so you can remove any fear you have. So much of what I found on the internet was technical jargon, and no one telling their true encounter, so here is mine.
Exactly How the Biopsy Went
There are different types of biopsies. The type of biopsy I had was a guided core needle biopsy. Core needle biopsies are a highly accurate method of obtaining a preoperative breast cancer diagnosis. Its sensitivity is typically cited as being 90–99%.
I changed into the regular mammo top half gown that opens in the front and was taken into a room that had a table in it. By the way, the table looks scary. Wait. No, I’m lying. It looks absolutely terrifying, but don’t think about it. I cried as soon as I walked into the room and looked at it. I’m not exaggerating. I remember Dr. Griffin and the tech giving me instructions to climb up the steps to lie on the table, but I was so afraid that I just asked them to repeat the instructions.
The Biopsy Began
They just guided me, realizing I wasn’t listening to anything they were saying. Fear. I was lying on my stomach and placed my left breast through an opening so that it sort of hung through it. I felt so vulnerable, and strange, but Dr. Griffin made me feel at ease. As she told me afterward, in a later conversation, “I’ve been a patient, too. I know what it is like.”
I turned my head toward the wall so I couldn’t see anything. That’s just how I roll. Dr. Griffin was so comforting, such a calming demeanor, while skillful, reminding me to be still, all the while, telling me what she was doing every step of the way. I recall the breastplates, I believe maybe to get images for her, or maybe to hold my breast in place – maybe both, but this didn’t hurt. It was just pressure. She told me I would feel a small pinch, the needle with the anesthetic in my breast, but I hardly even felt that.
The Actual Procedure
Dr. Griffin used a local anesthetic prior to the actual biopsy. I have heard that not all breast biopsies include this. If I were you, I would ask for it. If your radiologist doesn’t provide it, get a second opinion. I think this, coupled with the great doctor, saved me from a lot of pain.
After the procedure started, Dr. Griffin used the biopsy needle and imaging, cohesively, for the process. She asked me several times if I was OK, if I felt anything, and I did not. I was actually fine. After just a few minutes, she told me I would hear a noise, a click, and that was her inserting a tiny little marker into my breast where the cells had been. The marker is used to mark the area for any possible future procedures, and/or marking it as an area to watch.
Several samples of tissue were taken for analysis by pathology. I would wait for confirmation of whether or not those samples were cancerous cells. Immediately after, I sat up, feeling absolutely relieved, and amazed at how uneventful the whole procedure was.
Moments After the Breast Biopsy
I then moved to another table, and while lying on my back, the tech put pressure on the tiny area of my breast to stop any bleeding. I then had a post-biopsy mammogram for Dr. Griffin to get a last look to make sure all was well.
Lastly, I had a bandage placed on the tiny area where the needle went in. I put my sports bra on (I had been asked to wear one so I would have compression when I left) and then had an ace bandage wrapped around my entire chest area after. Upon leaving, I felt zero pain. I was told that I would maybe feel soreness in a few hours, to not lift, push, nor pull more than 5 pounds for the next 3-5 days, and to leave the bandage on for 24 hours.
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
So, once I made it past the biopsy, I had to wait for the results. That was the most difficult part. Anyone who has waited for the results of your tests in a medical situation knows that there is a lot of emotional distress.
Knowing that your life, or the results of how your life will change, being in the hands of someone else, is unbearable for someone who needs to control just about everything. I struggled to sleep the night after since I am a side sleeper, and the entry point of the biopsy was on the side of my breast. I was sore and tired. That probably helped matters.
It gave me something else to think about. My mom was in town still, so we kept busy talking about travel plans for the summer, etc. When the results finally came in, it was the news that I so hoped and prayed for… normal changes in the breast. Calcifications. It is not cancer.
Thank God. I don’t think I can describe how vivid colors even became to my eyes after I received the news. I seriously, since, see things in a different way, I am so, so, grateful.
The Takeaway
As Dr. Griffin said to me, “Shannon, this is why we have mammograms, to stay ahead of it.” It made me realize that overcoming my fear, truly saved my life. Being fearful of the results, of the procedure, of all of it, didn’t make the results turn out to be non-cancerous, but it did help me to stay ahead of anything that could have been cancerous and would have saved my life.
Also, the entire experience allowed me to share this with you, the reader. Mammogram anxiety is real. Not gonna lie about that, but they are paramount to making sure you get ahead of anything. Even if the next step is a biopsy.
That Google Rabbit Hole
As I was Googling, doing all of the research on the biopsy experience, there were false narratives of stock photos of women smiling as they were posing with the machines, with biopsy needles, terrible stories and photos with scare tactics, or technical jargon that I didn’t understand.
At least I am able to share the story of my experience so that if you are running across this story, know that you can take the fear out of the biopsy process, not to mention the mammogram process, and put that energy into being proactive, into practicing self-care, and taking preventative measures to stay ahead of the game, especially when it comes to routine annual screenings.
My Mantra
Lastly, I want to make sure that I add that fear is still very much in my thoughts. I am not fearless. I try to put positivity out into the world every day. I lead and envision positive events in my daily life, leading with my daily mantra: “I am healthy, I am whole, I am with God.”
My mantra helps my mental wellness and overall wellness. I also believe that it helps me to overcome that fear that still exists in my life, and that helps to save my life, every single day. I try to know the difference between healthy fear and unhealthy fear and accommodate my feelings with both.
On your next mammogram, give the calm vibes a try. Maybe create your own mantra as you walk in. Oh, and a helpful tip- be sure to conduct a breast self-exam each month. It’s a good idea to know what your normal breast feels like. You can even combine it with something else you do each month, like get your roots done, or a mani. Make it part of your normal routine.
A routine mammogram each year, and checking your own breasts with a self-exam is a great form of self-care.
