God and my third boob

God stepped in today…in a huge way.

I turned 40 a few months ago and my OB promptly wrote me a prescription for a mammogram.

Happy birthday.

I was still nursing Big A at the time, so I sat on the script for a while.

Yesterday, I finally scheduled the appointment. I was surprised that they were able to schedule me for today.

While scheduling my appointment, the woman asked if I had any pain, lumps, discomfort.

No.

She asked if I had implants, and I answered “not yet.” She didn’t laugh. I guess in the OC, it’s a valid question.

Last night at 6:30, as I gave Big A his bottle before bed, he leaned his head against my chest and it hurt. I thought he had just put his head against my necklace so I went to move the necklace. But that wasn’t it. I felt a quarter-sized lump.

My heart raced. What?! And it hurt. How had I missed this? I was just at the beach and didn’t see it. Could this possibly be something that just appeared?!

First call. My college roommate, a physician. She was calm and said “if there’s pain, it’s usually a good sign.” She asked me to swing by for her to check it out, but I was home alone with the kids and they were in bed.

Next call. My neighbor and plastic surgeon friend, Dr. Tenley Lawton. She specializes in post-cancer breast reconstruction. She came over immediately and checked it out. She concurred that the quick onset and pain were good signs. To be on the safe side, she wrote me a prescription for a diagnostic mammogram, rather than the routine one I was planning to get.

What are the chances that I already had a mammogram scheduled? What are the chances that I scheduled at Dr. Lawton’s hospital? What are the chances that Dr. Lawton was in surgery at the hospital the day I was getting my mammogram? She was able to join me and my husband for the appointment and calm my nerves.

Mammogram checked out fine. Ultrasound was inconclusive. So they squeezed me in (literally and figuratively) for a biopsy the same day. Doesn’t seem like anything too worrisome, but for peace of mind, I opted for the biopsy. From what the radiologist said, it’s likely a bruised muscle. The only thing I can think of is Lil G head butting me as I was hugging on him the other day. Random.

Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach is amazing. They have 1,200 volunteers and like the two times I had my babies there, the volunteers make your experience comfortable. Today, Barbara was my volunteer. She asked if she could join me for the biopsy and I said yes. She gave me a warm blanket, held my hand, and chit chatted with me to keep my mind at ease. What a blessing!!

I joked with her that God just felt bad for me and that He was giving me a third boob.

Of course I was terrified. You can only think of the worst case scenario.

But there were too many coincidences for it to not have been God walking alongside me this entire time.

Amen.

I’ll post when biopsy results are in…even if it’s “bruised muscle, wimp-itis!”