New to this board with questions...***Updated***

While I generally hang out at the colon and peritoneal cancer boards (as an appendix cancer survivor) I'm now in need of your help and information.

After having a recall on my annual mammo ("something has changed") I had more images done that showed a mass, followed by a focused ultrasound, where a distinct rounded mass was found.

Escalate a level: on Monday, I had an ultra-sound-guided needle core biopsy, which went smoothly. They placed the marker, and sent me back to mammo to check it out. What they found was that the mass they biopsied and marked was not the same mass as seen in the mammogram. One mass had only shown in the mammo, the other only showed in the focused ultrasound, and under the assumption that the masses seen were one and the same, only the one in the ultrasound was biopsied. (I was told this is a very uncommon occurrence.) I was then told that I'd need an MRI and/or an excision biopsy. My breast surgeon overseeing this is on vacation until next week (when I have my (no longer) routine annual appointment with her.

I made the decision to have a bilateral MRI while waiting (I'd had a needle aspiration biopsy in the other breast about 9 years ago, and if stuff wasn't showing equally on the mammo and ultrasound, I wanted more info. My gyn got this ordered for me, because the other dr is out of town on vacation.

Other dr's office called yesterday to tell me that 1) bx from Monday was benign (Yay) and 2) dr wanted me to have excisional biopsy, probably within the next 2 weeks.

Questions:

1. What can I expect during my MRI tomorrow? As someone who is somewhat claustrophobic, do I need to premedicate, or is the face-down position easier to deal with?

2. What can I expect from an incisional biopsy? Will I have activity limitations? (The curling season is set to begin next week, and I'm a very active curler.)

Many thanks. I know how good we survivors are at helping each other out!

Alice

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Thank you all. I had my MRI this morning. Yes, the pressure on my sternum was uncomfortable, and even with ear protection, this was the loudest MRI I've ever had. (They started me with ear plugs, but I complained, and they got me headphones, which helped only a little more.)

I didn't find it at all claustrophobic, because the mirror under the face had me looking out into the room, and I had no sense of being in a tube.

I actually found the really loud bangs of the machine during some of the scans to be physically uncomfortable - I felt like someone was pounding on my sacrum. The tech said he'd never heard of that before, but I tend to be extremely sensitive on numerous sensory levels (sound, touch, smell). So now we wait for results (and hope against hope that maybe it will show that the mass in my breast is benign, and that I don't need surgery after all. I can hope, can't I!)

Thanks to my newest cancer family.