Incision placement for excisional biopsy for papilloma

Not sure if this helps... my lump was just above the nipple, slightly towards the armpit. 1 o'clock position. I asked the surgeon where she would make the incision. I assumed she would just cut me open above the lump, dig in and take it out. (this was for the excisional biopsy). She said her point of entry depended on where the radiologist placed the wire guide. (I am not actually sure if it was the radiologist who put in the wire guide or not. It was a medical looking man.)

Instead of him placing it in the front of my boob, which seemed to me the most reasonable spot. He entered way back towards my armpit and placed the wire guide from there! That was a long trip from armpit to nipple!

So, if you have to have a wire guide placed, that may determine where the incision is placed. Although I am not sure how those two are connected. When I had my lumpectomy later, the surgeon again did NOT enter directly over the lump, but tunneled in from the side and cut out all the tissue she had made contact with in the surgical biopsy. My scar is mostly on my side, underarm area with just the tip of the scar being under the underwire of my bra.

Good luck to you. Hugs.

Silbar, I am not sure what helps surgeons come to decisions. In my case it might be that my lump, despite being fairly near the surface, was absolutely not detectable by feel. Surgeon said if she'd been able to feel it she wouldn't need a wire guide. I don't know. I was surprised by the placement of the incision too. The end of the wire stuck out my armpit, was rolled up and taped in place. I told Hub to get out his cellphone and see if he could get Wifi off my boob wire.

I think it would be a good thing if the surgeon and wire placing person had a talk prior to the event. For me, I had the wire stuck in in one hospital, got in the truck and Hub drove me an hour away to a different town to have the surgery at another hospital. It was stupid.

Runor, I didn't have to go that far, but my mom had to drive me about a mile from the breast clinic to the ambulatory surgical center. I sat in the waiting area with a dixie cup taped over my boob...

Silbar, what worried me is that Hub is a notorious fainter. He passes out at the sight of blood, gore or even hearing about something gruesome. I was very tense that he would be thinking about the procedure I had just had and pass out while he was driving! So I was trying very hard to lighten the situation (and save us from an accident) by cracking jokes about my boob having wifi reception.

I was braced for the placement to hurt like hell. It didn't. The dentist does way worse things to me! I look back now with amazement of how I gritted my teeth, took a deep breath and thought, well, this might hurt like an SOB but it's not going to kill me so .... THey froze me and placed the wire at around 9 in the morning and I was due for surgery at 11:30 at another hospital. I sat in the waiting room, wire in my boob, taped to my armpit, and waited. And waited. And the freezing came out. And I waited more. And by the time they finally did surgery on me, at 3:30 that day, no food, no drink and a wire in my boob that I could now feel, I was not a happy camper! However, recovery from that excisional biopsy was a breeze. I was amazed at how I bounced back. I went shopping the next day!

The lumpectomy itself, a month later, was another story. But it is not a typical story and in most circumstance women do very well with their recovery.

How am I doing now? You know, I have come to hate that question. I get up and go through the motions of my day as I have for my whole life. Only nothing is the same. Breast cancer isn't just a disease of the body, there is a process that happens in your mind, in your heart, in your view of your place in the world. It's a shock and adjustment on two levels. My body is recovering. I am doing what I can to manage the lymphedema. Outwardly I look unchanged (unless you're looking at my boob but no one does that but me). But inside, in my head ... different story. A story that's not over yet. So when people ask me how I am I say fine, because there is no way to explain how I really am. And mostly no one wants to know the truth anyway. Except other cancer people. They get it. My closest friends no longer ask how I am but say. 'It's good to see you', and we both know, without saying it, that I am scared every, single day. As I have said in another post it's not about HOW I am doing, but that I AM doing. That I get up every day and get on with it, even though the scare and shock makes me wants to put the blankets over my head and not move (except to get coffee. Must have coffee)

I had another scare at the start of this month when a huge lump popped out of my good boob, and the mammogram report said that the weird mess that first alerted them to my cancer IS STILL THERE! It was December 2016 that all this crap started and December 2017 I was right back at it hearing the words "carcinoma cannot be ruled out" and I fell apart. For Christmas dinner I said I am NOT having the big gathering, just Hub and the kid, and I made grilled cheeses sandwiches. (best Christmas ever!). Despite being butt deep in snow right now, I am feeling cautiously hopeful. But I was feeling hopeful before I got the rug yanked out from under me so now I am more gun shy than before! So to answer your question, how am I doing? I'm not sure. I just get up and DO. Everyday.

Don't be sorry. I'm a tough old broad!