Cancer Chronicles: A Son's Journey with His Mother
History: My 66-year-old mother has been battling osteoarthritis for 22 years and hypertension for 17 years. In May 2022, she noticed a lump in her left breast while sleeping. The lump, located in the upper outer quadrant, was mildly tender. Both a consultant surgeon and an ultrasonologist assessed the lump and deemed it benign, suggesting a trucut biopsy. After undergoing two biopsies that showed no signs of malignancy, the lump seemed to vanish after the second procedure, potentially due to antibiotics and anti-inflammatory treatment. However, it reappeared deeper after a few weeks. A subsequent mammogram revealed concerning features, categorizing it as Berad 4, and also identified enlarged axillary lymph nodes. Consequently, my mother underwent breast-conserving surgery with lymph node dissection (17 July 2022, 54 days after first noticing the lump, with two trucut biopsies performed in these 54 days that had not showed anything). Pathology results of the excision biopsy indicated in...