I've had many of them. They are uncomfortable for a day or two, but not painful (I have never taken more than a couple of Advil). The mental part is by far the worse part of it. Your surgeon will probably tell you to avoid heavy lifting for a while, but otherwise, there will probably be no restrictions.

I will remember you in my prayers. Keep us posted on how you are doing. Hugs!

I had one years ago and don't even remember anything about it. Sorry you have to worry about this.

joann i had to go back to my journal in 2009...i have noted breast bi-op...and it says not bad? and i drove myself there and home...

i ended up with a lumpectomy..it was done at the out-patient surgery...i did have chemo, and radiation, and while i did all my own driving did sleep a lot after chemo....just had my first 6 month check up (down from every 3 months!) the real thing i'm fighting now is weight gain...i'm on the anti- hormone pill, and it's tough....

i wish i could say don't worry but that's sure not easy...if and when you get your results, remember who you are not what condition you have...

I had one done many years ago on an out-patient basis. It wasn't painful but the mental anguish was bad.

The kind done under ultrasound can be described as a piece of cake. The one where you lie down with a hole in the table while your breast is squished is a little more like a squishing of a mammogram. In either case the hard part is waiting for the results. My first biopsy was just a needle going for a lymph node and that one was just a cake crumble. Wishing you all the best for clear results.

Yes I had one, the one with the hole in the table. I told the doctor to deaden it good and he did so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Good Luck.

I've had two needle biopsies-benign, and two surgical biopsies-also benign. I was asleep for the surgical biopsies, so I felt nothing, and had no pain afterward. Just a piece of cake.

She

What kind are you having? I've had two. The first was a full surgical biopsy in an OR under total anesthesia. The surgeon was able to give me the preliminary result before we left the hospital, though I had to wait several days for the final result. The second was an ultrasound-guided needle biopsy done by the surgeon in her office. I only had a local anesthesia for that one. Neither of them was painful. Actually, I don't remember the first one. I remember thinking how cold it was in the OR & then the anesthesia started working. I had to wear a bandage for a few days after that one but I was back to most of my normal activities within a couple of days and I was back in the gym within a week. It didn't take long, but I was too groggy to go back to work afterward. I think they may have used a band-aid after the ultra-sound guided one. I walked out of the office that day & drove myself back to work, so there was nothing to it. I think it took about 1/2 hour. There were no restrictions on activities for this one.

My prayers are with you. It's very stressful - not because of the procedure, but because of the worry.

This post was edited by kittiemom on Thu, Dec 20, 12 at 20:10

Joann, my thoughts are with you tonight - I pray that everything will be o.k.

I go back tomorrow for a second mammogram on my left breast because the first one, done a month ago, showed a 'shadow' behind the nipple. I'm not scared, mainly because I can't change anything -I'm thinking positively - that's all I can do at this point.

Joann, I've had both the needle biopsys and surgical biopsy. I'm hoping yours will be as painless and easy as mine were and with good results. Keep your chin up.

I haven't. And I pray I never do. I just wanted to say best of luck for a great outcome, and a very painless procedure. I will be praying for you.

I have two surgical biopsies, both done in an operating room. After the first one I was sore for a couple of weeks but it did not restrict my activities. The second one was hardly painful at all. Told both surgeons to take wide margins so that if it was cancer hopefully I would not have to have further surgery. Both were negative, but interesting that were both in the same spot. The worst is the waiting for the results. Good luck.

I had one done in 2006, turned out to be Stage 0 Breast Cancer. The biopsy itself was absolutely painless, and that's the truth. The mental anguish was my only enemy. Physically, I felt perfectly fine both during and after my biopsy.

Please try not to worry, hundreds of thousands of women have had this procedure done and survived it just fine. Try to remember that and tell yourself, "if they can do it, so can I!" :)

Good luck!

Just one day at a time, Joanne. I hope all goes well....I'll be praying for you.

Good Luck and try not to worry...I've had more than my share and they don't knock your feet out from under you...A little caution and things will be fine...Not painful...

I have had two done and they were not painful.The worst part is waiting for the results. Try to stay positive.

I've had three surgical breast biopsies w/anesthesia and one stereotactical (supposed topical numbing, but was was agonizing). At the time of my first one -- I was 25 -- the MD had me sign permission to remove both breasts! (He found a cyst, probably due to the hormones I was prescribed to help achieve a pregnancy.)

Mine have turned up nothing, zip, nada, every time. I'm quitting the annual nail-bite mammogram routine, but will visit the GYN for check-ups alternate years. I'm 71.

Entirely too many mammograms and breast biopsies are done every year on women with no personal or family histories of breast cancer. Hospitals have invested so much in their machinery; gotta *use* those puppies -- and there's the fear of suit should they 'miss' something.

Hope *your* procedure proves to be totally unnecessary!

Thanks everyone, I'm not worried, or at least it hasn't hit me yet. I wasn't even worried about the cancer I had last time. I was thinking to much of DH then.
I have no idea what they will be doing, maybe they will tell all at my appointment.

I have not had this procedure, but I'm sending you big hugs and putting you on my Prayer List.

((((JoAnn))))

chisu - I'm surprised you had a stereotactical that you classify as "agonizing". I, too, had this type done and it was absolutely 100% painless!

Also, all cancers are not found in women who have family history of breast cancer - many have NO history whatsoever!

Preventative care is always better than none, so many women do not bother to get their mammo's only to later experience "whammos!" later with full-blown cancer that could have been caught at an earlier stage.

I hate to see anyone discourage others by ignoring their health and measures to safeguard a far worse diagnosis later on down the road.

JoAnn - please let us know the update, good luck to you and great big HUGS for bravery!

First I want to say good luck. I have had 3. For me they were just a little sore for a day or 2. I had to watch what I was doing at work for about 2-3 weeks. Mine was done quite a few years ago.

Good luck Joann. Will be keeping fingers crossed and looking for updates.

IMO this whole thing has been overblown. It's another case of medicine doing something 'because we can' (and because it is profitable). The World Health Organization now recommends fewer mammograms and still fewer treatments of 'potential' breast cancers.

If stress causes illness, why subject women to *unnecessary* stress over a threat of breast cancer? The WHO has found overuse of mammograms and unnecessary treatment of 'abnormalities' unlikely to amount to a hill of beans. (That's a new medical term I just made up: Hill of beans.)

IF a person -- man or woman -- has a family or personal history of breast cancer, that's another story.

I'd just urge some perspective about how INfrequently the 'something' on a mammogram results in the discovery of a cancer that *requires* surgery/treatment -- over the wide range of people having mammograms.

Yes, people die of cancers, but people with what histories, and at what ages?

I have had both types and it wasn't bad at all. I did have breast cancer and went through the cemo and radiation. It really wasn't that bad. Our doctor did both because cancer runs wild in my family. A worry for me as I have two daughters and it is also on my husbands side. I just make sure they have the family history.

I'm sending "BIG" hugs to you..

Susie53

Chisue, if I hadn't had a mammogram, the last cancer would not have been picked up as quickly as it was. Yes there are false positives but I would rather go through a biopsy that was negative, than have a cancer that remained undiagnosed until it spread.

Yes, I had one, and it wasn't bad. They will spray your breast with a numbing spray, and it just wasn't bad. The worst part was laying on your stomach, because my back hurt more than anything. Didn't take long--they have such advanced screening divices now--I got to watch mine on a screen. I did have cancer, but it was tiny and I only had to have radiation after surgery.

Look at the statistics concerning how many biopsies turn out to be benign, and you'll probably feel better. Yes, I was scared of the results, but the procedure was just nothing to complain about.

Yes I had an ultrasound guided biopsy last year and it wasn't bad, I had a lot of bruising other than that it was pain free. Of course waiting for the results was the worst part. I'll be thinking of you and praying for a good outcome!

They didn't do it today, they only did a exam. Now I have to wait for another appointment :^(

Does anyone know what they are doing anymore?

heather_on said: "Chisue, if I hadn't had a mammogram, the last cancer would not have been picked up as quickly as it was. Yes there are false positives but I would rather go through a biopsy that was negative, than have a cancer that remained undiagnosed until it spread."

Exactly! My cancer was thankfully Stage 0, BUT! - it was grade 3 necrosis, the fastest growing type there is, therefore, had I not gotten a mammo that year, by the next year I would have been in huge trouble!

chisue said: "Yes, people die of cancers, but people with what histories, and at what ages?"

Research the status on very young women (in their 30's OR younger!) who have been diagnosed with breast cancer - AND - have never had breast cancer in their family history! The onset of BC younger than 40 yrs. old is generally not without -

1. a much higher Stage cancer at diagnosis
   2. higher rates of the cancer reoccurring

I'm not sure why you're attempting to discourage very simple screening for something that hundreds of thousands of women die from each year. The progress of women's health care has come too far for such nonsense.

JoAnne - I'm sorry they didn't test you yet but stay strong and know that you're definitely doing the right thing by keeping this in check! Please keep us posted.

Joann, I just sat down to see if there was any news about your biopsy. I'm so sorry they didn't do it today. I know you want to get it over with ASAP and not have to think about it. Keep us posted.

I'm sorry it isn't 'done and dusted', and that you'll have to wait!

I'm also sorry that I just went off on a pet gripe about the overblown roll of 'medicine' when my intention was to downplay the whole problem. Sorry.

Thinking about you Joann. Hope you're doing well!

Joann, it's a bummer they didn't do it when you thought they were going to. Geez, you get all geared up and now you have to do it all over again. Did they explain better to you how they are going to do it?

You're in my thoughts and prayers, GF!

I had one too. About 2 years ago. They did what they called a "needle-loc" which involved inserting a wire into what appeared to be a lump behind the nipple. Then they removed the lump surgically. I was in-and-out of the hospital in about 4 hours. It was weird looking down and seeing the wire sticking out of my boob!

After we left the hospital we went out for lunch before we drove home.

It was pretty simple and relatively pain-free. By far the worst was waiting for the results.

I had one last March. They used ultrasound to locate the spot, and they gave me lidocaine, which was supposed to help prevent the pain.

(The lidocaine was just a bolus under the skin that didn't help much. Moreover, I had a reaction to it which caused my skin to peel off in that area, which hurt more than the biopsy procedure.)

The device used resembled a spring loaded gun, and it made a loud, startling noise. The procedure did hurt a little at the time, but not for long. I was advised to wear a snug sports bra to avoid "bounce," which might have hurt more!

I am just not thinking about it, I wasn't geared up for it I just don't care about it. Since losing DH not much has mattered to me. I just go from day to day. I haven't asked any questions, what can I do anyway, what will be will be.

Dear Joanne, I thought about you this season thinking you might be sad. Sorry you are.