Gut Feeling

Put simply – it can be a life saver.

For well over 12 months I’d been back and forward to the GP – complaining of being tired. Not just the usual ‘had a full-on week at work, I’m zonked’ kind of exhaustion, but real fatigue.

Blood tests (plenty of them) returned nothing significant.

This may, or may not be related – the jury is still out. My gut feel, was that something wasn’t right.

In January – I noticed a lump in my left breast. Two Doctors later, I had a referral for an ultrasound. During examination the sonographer picked up a larger ‘mass’ in my right breast. My response was “it’s the wrong boob!” And – the lump I had felt (in my left breast) wasn’t showing up on the imaging, despite the fact the sonographer could feel it. He called in a Doctor and the Senior Radiologist. They could all feel it – but not find it with the machine.

Both GP’s I’d been to previously dismissed the ‘masses’ as nothing serious. “You’re only 31” they said. My point exactly. One refused point blank to send me for an FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration/biopsy) commenting “it’s just the imaging company trying to get the money for an unnecessary test.” I wanted it done, so went back to my family GP. It was done on the ‘big lump’ and came back as atypia – where cells are starting to become ‘abnormal’. A Mammogram and Core Biopsy followed. Although I wanted both lumps removed immediately, I was assured there was nothing to worry about. Another line I got was “the lumps don’t warrant the scarring.” Scarring! I hardly walk around with my boobs out! I resorted to begging, if for nothing more than peace of mind. No luck.

After vigorous discussion/debate with my husband Paul and others close to me, I stopped protesting at the lack of action on the boob front and agreed that yes ‘they’re the experts’ and surely if it was necessary, they’d recommend the lumps be removed. Still – that feeling in the pit of my stomach would not go away.

We’ve been trying to have a baby for years and had recently started another round of IVF treatment. I got two days into a cycle and called the IVF people to initiate the next phase. They knew of the lumps and asked if they’d been removed. When I said “no, no-one is overly concerned” I was met with a caring, but firm “there’ll be no IVF cycle Kate.” I was told the drug treatment involved could ‘feed’ any potential cancer.

That was it. I ended up in my Gynaecologist’s rooms for a breast examination. I told him I wanted the lumps out, no big deal “just get rid of them.” After telling me “there’s been a huge increase in the number of younger women undergoing unnecessary invasive procedures since the cases of Kylie Minogue and Jane McGrath” he decided to give in to my demand for a referral and sent me to his ‘mate’, who just happens to be one of the most highly-respected breast specialists in the region.

Dr D and his staff had done their homework on me before my initial consultation – films, pathology results etc.. I had an incredible sense of calm on entering their rooms and just knew I was in good hands. This was immediately obvious when he found that mysterious lump everyone could feel and no-one could actually find. On seeing that lump displayed on the screen I didn’t know whether to cry or scream. All I could say was “thank you.” He did a fine needle biopsy then and there. We agreed that should it come back as something even slightly suspicious, he’d get rid of it during the surgery to remove the bigger lump. The operation was booked for around a week later.