The Biopsy

The Breast Surgeon

The 2nd surgeon I called, Dr. Charles Butler, was able to see me in under 2 weeks. Dr. B is part of Virtua/Fox Chase Cancer Center. When my husband and I went to see him, he was so calm. He told us that he became a breast surgeon because his mother had died of breast cancer many years ago. He is also a 4 year throat cancer survivor - so he GETS IT. He understood how frightened I was.

Dr. B asked me how it took to get an appointment with him. When I told him just over a week. He said, "That's not good enough. I want my patients to be seen in less than a week. Most of this is mental and you can't wait that long." He was completely appalled when I told him that the other surgeon couldn't see me for a month and a half. "I would work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if I had to, so no woman would have to wait that long."

The Biopsy

For the biopsy itself, he did an initial exam and said that the lump was so tiny he couldn't feel it. He was only able to actually feel it when he had the ultrasound machine pointed directly on it. Initially, the lump looked like 2 lumps next to each other. Dr. B. was thinking that maybe they were 2 fibroadenoma's, which are benign. Tha't exactly what I was hoping for.

I'm a big baby so I didn't watch any of the biopsy procedure. I just laid on the table with my eyes closed while Dr. B stuck a very large needle into my right breast. The lump was deep and in the six o'clock position, so it wasn't easy to get too, but Dr. B was great - it wasn't all that painful.