Benign but Unforgettable: Fibroadenoma Stories

Inside this volume

Fifty first-person accounts describe finding a fibroadenoma, a benign breast lump, and living with what came next. Some writers found it themselves, in bed or while stretching after a long Saturday run; others were called back after a screening mammogram, or had it found at a college softball physical or a routine Pap smear. They range from a 17-year-old goalkeeper mortified that her mom made the call to a 71-year-old who had stopped having mammograms, and include a dental hygienist, a retired bus driver, a domestic helper in Hong Kong, a midwife in Kampala and an emergency department doctor, writing from Manchester to Port of Spain and Lagos to Calgary. Some lumps were simply watched. Others were removed in surgery booked for the school holidays, through a needle, or by freezing in an exam room. Writers describe biopsies, a report containing the word complex, a radiologist talking about popcorn, a lump beside an implant, one found at twenty weeks pregnant and one after two years on estrogen, alongside daughters, sisters, grandmothers and a notebook of every appointment. Not every account is tidy: a nurse of thirty-one years waited eleven months, one woman went seven months without insurance, one biopsy gave only a maybe, and for some the anxiety outlasted the lump.

Who it's for

For anyone who has just found a breast lump or been called back after a mammogram, and for the mothers, partners and friends sitting beside them in the waiting room.

Format · Instant download · PDF & EPUB · Fifty first-person accounts · PDF: 269 pages

A collection of personal testimony, offered as companion reading — not medical advice.

• 50 single-author testimonies from real people
• A short, plain-language introduction to the topic
• Editor's note, contents page, and curated resource list
• Professional interior typesetting and an original cover

Every purchase includes a print-quality PDF (best for desktop, tablet, and printing) and a reflowable EPUB (best for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and phones). Files are DRM-free. You can download both instantly from the order-confirmation screen, and we email them to your inbox as well, so your books are always within reach.