Breast Cancer Detection...the 'Cat Scan' caught it

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - Oct. 30, 2016 - PRLog -- It's Halloween and the last day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's ironic that the two would become interwoven because of the intuitive nature of a black cat.

In mid-October 2000, another stray cat appeared in the neighborhood. As soon as one found a home with one of the neighbors, another would magically show up. I would find out later that this black stray cat did possess some kind of mystic powers.

As Halloween approached, no one had taken the black cat in, and I didn't need a third cat. She was friendly, approaching me every time I went outdoors, rolling over on her back and doing her best to endure me to her. I finally capitulated one night when I looked out the window and found two yellow eyes staring back at me. I figured it was better to have her on the inside instead of scaring the daylights out of me from the outside. And I was worried about a black cat being out on the streets the night of Halloween.

I named her "Palooka." My mother had a black cat named Palooka as a child, and I knew she would cringe at the thought of having to take care of a third cat when I was on business trips, unless...it reminded her of a beloved childhood pet.

This is where it gets scary. The Sunday before Halloween (which was on a Tuesday in the year 2000) I was laying on my side on the sofa watching a football game. Palooka hopped up on me and walked up my side. She then proceeded to start 'kneading' on my upper right side. This is that annoying habit cats have, where they knead human flesh like their making a loaf of bread. I felt a sharp shooting pain in area between by right arm and breast.

"Palooka, you can't do that. It hurt!" I exclaimed. I thought, "Why should that hurt?"

I sat up and poked and prodded, but was unable to replicate the pain. There was a hard spot, but it felt like bone. Strangely I didn't have a bone in the same area on my left side. I had just seen my OB-GYN during the summer and he hadn't detected anything during my examination, or did he? I remember him pausing on the right side during my breast exam, and then saying, "Oh, that's right. You have fibrosis."

I always took a vacation the week of Thanksgiving to get my mammogram. I always went to the same hospital so that all the films would be on file at the same location. In fact, not only did the same radiology clinic read them year after year, my insurance would only cover the mammogram if a specific radiologist read them. So I wasn't worried. If there was a lump, I caught it early.

I called my doctor and we scheduled the mammogram at a different hospital. I received a call immediately after he received the report. I knew it was malignant when my doctor said, "I'm giving you the phone number of a surgeon. You need to call him right away."

I also sought a second opinion at MD Anderson Cancer Center, and you can imagine my surprise when the oncologist threw open the door to the treatment room and exclaimed, "Do you know you've had this tumor for three to five years?"

No, I didn't...but Palooka knew it. Palooka passed away years ago. It broke my heart. She saved my life, but I couldn't save hers. I now jokingly tell people, "My doctor and the mammograms missed the tumor, but the 'cat scan' caught it."

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#BreastCancer  #CatScan  #Halloween  #ItWorks  #Lymphedema