Clear but lumpy

So the ultrasound didn't turn up any discrete masses, though I was told repeatedly that I have lumpy boobs.  I just want you all to know that they look fine from the outside.  Anyway, it was quite a relief.  They said that the mammogram done in February was very high-quality and definitely showed nothing then, though my boobs were still "quite dense."  I was told to keep having the ol' knockers examined by my OB and to come back for a needle biopsy if needed.  

Thank you for all of your good wishes.  I will now be more vigilant about self-examinations and whatnot.  Maybe I'll see if I can get on the Ch.ristina Ap.plegate plan of an ultrasound once a year and a mammogram once a year, done six months apart.  This is apparently what allowed her to catch her cancer so early.  

I'm off to catch some quick Zs now -- young master S. was up shrieking last night since his canines are coming in.  I hear those hurt.

The night before

Well, tomorrow is my boob ultrasound.  I haven't been as worried about the whole thing as I thought I would be, mostly because in my gut I just think it's nothing.  This may be hopelessly deluded.  I just don't feel a lump, though -- some fibrousness, yes, and it is more pronounced on the left than on the right.  But as longtime readers will surely recall, my left boob appeared to contain at least twice as many milk ducts as the right.  Why, if my right boob had had as many as my left, I might have gotten near a full supply.  (For the record, my right tonsil and right eardrum are also more problematic than their lefty pals.)

We'd had our babysitter from the Midwest come stay with us for a few weeks to help with the transition, but, alas, she had to return to college over the weekend despite our best efforts to enslave her.  It's so sad to me that she was S.oren's best pal, and he won't even remember her.  She sure did an amazing job with him, though -- she's largely responsible for how cheerful and fun he is.  For the next few weeks, I'll be a stay-at-home mom, and then we'll start a nanny share in the neighborhood.

Addendum to post below

After some consideration and Googling yesterday, I decided that watching a lump to see if it got worse went against everything I learned from infertility, which is, in short, that you should deal with stuff sooner rather than later.  I may be wrong, but what I tell people is that no one ever regretted going to the RE now instead of in six months.  I mean, hey, if you go to the RE and then get knocked up on your own, you can be one of those annoying people who tells everyone else to just relax.

And Dr. Google shared a few insights with me.  One, 70-80% of lumps found during pregnancy are NOT cancerous.  Two, you can treat breast cancer during pregnancy without harming the fetus (under most conditions).  Three, women with breast cancer in pregnancy do as well as those who are not pregnant -- for the same stage of cancer.   But, four, cancers are often detected later in pregnancy because people delay and because they're hard to find.  And since, five, you can get a mammogram in pregnancy, I called the office back and left a message that I want an ultrasound and/or mammogram.  Ideally, they'll just find a fluid-filled lump on ultrasound.  But if not, I could at least get going on anything else that needs doing.

Update: The first appointment for a breast ultrasound is 8/19, so I'll have to stew for a couple of weeks.

Why is there always a 'but'?

So I had my OB appointment today.  I liked the doctor, though the digs were a step down from the deluxe hospital clinics I used to frequent.  She did an ultrasound and said that the baby looked good -- and VERY active -- and the SCH looks as if it's absorbing.  She didn't measure it this time, but it did look more opaque and less black than before, so I saw what she meant.  They'll measure it for real at my big u/s at 18-20 weeks.  I then have the option of getting it ultrasounded at every appointment or just assuming it's all going fine.  Which do you think I'll choose?

BUT!  She found a lump in my breast.  Now, I had a breast exam in late June by my old OB, and I had a mammogram in February.  Neither of these facts made this OB say, "Oh, no problem."  We're to watch it.  Maybe I should have demanded a u/s right then.  I'm going to consult Dr. Google and then decide what to do next.