The 18th day of the month of February is one date that cannot be forgotten by me because of two reasons. The first being that it was my late mum's birthday and the second being that it was the day I got the devastating news.
I heard the words I dreaded so badly, words that had crossed my mind over the years, words that I feared I would one day hear but prayed earnestly that I would never hear. "You have breast cancer."
I had sustained an injury on my right breast a couple of years back and had gone to the hospital to have it looked at. Sonograms in Nigeria revealed that the injury had led to a cyst which was benign and I was advised to go and have it drained or removed.
I had done two sonograms (also known as a breast ultrasound) as I was not allowed to do a full mammogram in the diagnostic centre I went to in Ibadan because of my age. I was 29.
The reports of the sonogram was emailed to Dr. in the US who immediately told me that he needed a second opinion and invited me over to the US immediately for proper tests and necessary scans.
Note that I wrote the reports were sent to 'Dr' in the US not to a doctor in the US. I will later explain how I met Dr and who he is to me.
A few weeks after I had sustained the injury on my right breast (someone hit me real hard on it), the affected breast became engorged, extremely painful and was discharging blood. I ran to an Oncologist as the first thing that came to my mind was it was breast cancer. She asked me to do a sonogram which I did and there were no lumps found.
I was told by another doctor that it was a breast necrosis which would either resolve itself or will have to be removed surgically. Though the doctor said surgery would be better I was scared and preferred to wait for it to resolve itself. I guess that was a bad decision at that point in time.
The symptoms stopped and then almost two years later the affected area became quite hard and started discharging again. This time an almost clear but smelly discharge.
Fortunately for me, a team of about 50 doctors had come to Ibadan for a 5 day medical mission from the US so I decided to see one of the doctors as I was a member of the administrative team for the mission. So I saw one of the doctors after the mission was over at their hotel.
The doctor from the mission examined me at the hotel. She seemed to panic when I told her my symptoms but after a physical examination she said there were no swollen lymph nodes under my armpits as that will mean cancer. She however placed me on antibiotics for the smelly discharge and told me to get a mammogram done and get back to her.
At the diagnostic centre where I went for the mammogram, they convinced me despite the fact that I described all my symptoms that I could not do a mammogram as I was less than 30 and suggested I do a sonogram which I had done before. The sonogram revealed the cyst I mentioned earlier.
I must however describe what went on in the room while I was doing the sonogram. The lady who attended to me seemed puzzled. She would look curiously at the screen for a while then ask me to change position whilst looking at me strangely. She did this over and over again for about four times so I had to ask her if there was a problem.
She confessed to me what she felt in the affected breast was more than what she was seeing on the computer screen. A few minutes later she told me to get dressed as the sonogram was over and go wait for my results. While I was waiting for the results, I saw her discussing with an Indian man who worked at the centre and the two of them would look at me strangely in turns and quickly turn away when they saw I was watching them. I knew within me that the lady was discussing my session with the Indian man.
My report was given to me. Initially I was scared to open it but I read it however and it said it was a benign cyst. The pictures of the sonogram were not convincing to me as it showed a cyst whereas I felt more than two cysts in the affected breast. I however emailed the report to Dr. and felt relieved when he said he was not convinced with the report and invited me over to the US for the necessary scans. I wondered why the lady who did the scan for me would conclude that there was one cyst which was benign when she was unsure.
This was how I found my way to the US in February.
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