We went to the surgeon this morning, a friend’s husband, and his bedside manner was exactly how everyone said it would be – perfect!  He was 100% prepped, explained what this most likely was, and said, “I’m a black and white guy, and this is NOT cancer.”  I wasn’t concerned, but it was nice to hear it!  Everyone I have told about this has been in a panic and I’m glad that I can say, “it’s definitively NOT cancer.”

So what is it?

Well, it’s a 3mm mass (the size of a bee bee) that has no blood flow to it (hence, it is not a tumor and therefore, not cancer).  In all likeliness, it’s a clogged Montgomery gland and they think it may have been caused by my ramped up thyroid.  My thyroid was all out of whack in April and that can cause these things.  What also causes them is nothing whatsoever – they just happen.  The issue is if it doesn’t resolve itself on its own because they can be (and was for 3 days) very painful and cause visual distortion of the nipple.

So, we wait 6 weeks for a follow-up ultrasound to see if it’s taken care of itself.  If it has, then great.  If it hasn’t, we revisit it.  He did say that the surgery to remove it can cause the nipple and surrounding area to become permanently black, so given that, he has no interest in cutting unless necessary.

We agree.

Hottie asked all sorts of questions and this was NOT caused from running and in fact, the bras I wear reduce the likeliness of nipples becoming irritated and glands being clogged.  Who knew?

So there it is – nothing to worry about.  I’m super glad I didn’t get worked up over this.  I made that mistake with my bone tumor in 2008 (he noticed that lovely scar and asked, “what happened HERE?”) and I told myself I’d never do that again.  I didn’t even walk out of there feeling any sense of relief because I truly wasn’t worried going in.  It was just a normal doctors appointment that truly ended with a pat on the knee, a laugh, and a “see you in 6 weeks!”