Part Deux

Sometime in 2004/2005 ish, I discovered a kinda painful lump on the top of my left breast. It didn't cause me too much concern until it became very large and very painful very quickly. (Note; I have since found out that most "painful lumps" are not in fact breast cancer and tend to by cysts.) When it suddenly was the size of a walnut, I made a beeline to the Hines, VA (Veterans' Administration) hospital in Maywood. After sitting for hours in the waiting room, I was finally forced to call Mom and Dad and make sure they were there to feed the boys. (Note; I was ALWAYS very grateful for the many times they helped with the boys while we all lived in Naperville!) Finally, around 6:30pm ish, I was seen by a surgeon who announced it was "nothing more" then an infected cyst and with very little in the way of discussion or explanation, slit open the cyst and proceeded to bandage up the incision. I wish I could say exactly what he did or said, but I was pretty much out of it by then. I was sent home with very confusing, vague and ambiguous directions on wound care.

When I finally got home, I believe around 9pm ish, I went ahead and took a shower. Because I do not recall being told to leave the bandage in place for a few days or not to shower, I proceeded to remove the bandage only to find a small piece of gauze sticking out of my boob. Imagine my horror when I started to pull on the strip and it just kept coming. It was a slasher movie combined with the magic scarf trick and I was totally freaked out. Michael informed me the next day that he was scared to death and was convinced his mother had been ax murdered. Dripping wet and gushing blood, I called Mom to come and help me. With a great deal of love and care, and very little tut-tut, she bandaged me back up and put me to bed.

So, round two was merely an infected cyst.