1 Mammo + 2 Sonograms + 1 X-Ray

Not in that order, though.

First, it was the X-ray, taken to fill out a TB test form for teaching (any TB test that I take will come out positive because I was vaccinated against TB in Brazil, so I have to go straight to the chest X-ray).

Then, I had a very quick, awkward ultrasound of the lump in front of my right ear. It's very weird to have that cold blue jelly spread on the side of one's face and the wand by the ear. I wished it was on my belly (yes, I'm still insisting in wanting another baby even though I won't and can't and it's just a foregone conclusion that I shouldn't).

Next, I had the mammogram. It hurts, yikes! I had heard of how uncomfortable and painful it is to get one's poor breast squeezed and rolled out like pizza dough, but I was still a bit shocked at how annoying it is. After it was done the technician told me to wait in the next room until the radiologist could examine it.

I guess they couldn't take a good look at my underarm "lump," so I went back to the ultrasound room across the hall. The technician took the "pictures" and then I waited for a long time for the radiologist to come (good thing they had this Escher poster taped to the ceiling). When she came she said that there was no trace of breast cancer (as I already suspected) and that the lumps were well defined, enlarged lymph nodes -- just what I had suspected from the beginning (ah, how doctors are useless at times, e.g. so much money [from my insurance company, thankfully] was wasted in "diagnosing" an IBS that I had self-diagnosed months before).

She (the radiologist) said that the doctor may decide to have me do an MRI to verify if there are other such enlarged nodes around the body -- he had mentioned something like that in the last visit (together with the suggestion that a surgeon might want to remove the lump by my ear -- yikes!). So, I still might undergo further testing on this.

So far so good, though. It's better be safe than sorry, isn't it? (another cliche for you, courtesy of this increasingly annoying blog -- no?). OK, I have to go to bed.

There was a showing today (of the house). I'm feeling slightly less depressed... If only the house could sell soon! We're very spoiled because our first two houses sold in the first-second day of going on the market. It's going to be two weeks on Thursday for this one :-(

Please keep us in your thoughts/prayers.