Monday we went for the Mammogram and Sonogram
Tuesday I saw Dr. Doom for the first time…did a FNA biopsy
Wednesday Dr. Doom told us that despite indeterminate pathology, she thought I had cancer and should decide between lumpectomy (breast conservation) and Mastectomy.
Wednesday afternoon we go for an MRI and Chest X-ray….some itch of reason starts to occur
Thursday we go to see Dr. Blair who tells us “Load of ….” and gets us an appointment with another doctor for Monday.
Thursday afternoon Dr. Doom calls back and says that the MRI supports her opinion and found another spot on the opposite side of the same breast…when did I want to schedule surgery….
So…here we are. I say, shakily, “We’re going to get a second opinion.” I have to tell you, I think that was one of the strongest statements of my life. I was scared senseless and still here I was telling this woman that we were going to wait and talk to someone else. She was non-pulsed and said they would wait to hear from us. I went and took another little pink pill. Whew.
The weekend was quiet, though a little highly-strung. I realized that I had lost over 3 pounds in four days and called my GP. They suggested trying to gain a little back 🙂 Here comes the high protein diet…and Dove bars (there is a silver lining to everything, my friends).
Monday morning I was a wreck. I knew that Dr. Blair liked this man. I knew that he was likely to be a more human doctor and that we would probably be much more comfortable working with him. But he could still say the exact same thing and then where would we be…
Dr. Worchel was wonderful. We had a long talk (with some poking and prodding) and went over the pathology reports together. He was genuinely shocked at Dr. Doom’s behavior and astounded that I didn’t have a copy of all of my reports. I do now. We talked options and Dr. Worchel expressed surprise and approval that I had done so much reading and could actually discuss my situation and the options available. He told us that there really was no definite diagnosis yet and that the MRI report actually strongly suggested more detailed testing before making a determination about diagnosis and treatment. (Dr. Doom left that bit out.) So…more tests.
We are going in Wednesday morning for…
Sonogram assisted Core Needle Biopsy (CNB) on the mass at 10 o’clock
Sonogram assisted CNB on the tiny (! 7mm !) spot at 2 o’clock (my breast is a clock – alright)
Magnification Mammogram on some calcifications (Calicifications are mostly normal but can sometimes be an issue. If these look suspicious, they’ll biopsy them as well.)
And if they can’t poke the little one with the sonogram assist, we’ll go for an MRI assisted biopsy at another facility.
Good lord, you say, so many tests. But this will lead to an absolute diagnosis that will tell us what the surgical options really are. I’m tired of ‘maybe’ and ‘indeterminate’. We should have pathology by Friday afternoon at the latest. And I hope this silly thing will come out next week.
In the meantime, I’m tired…and I’m really, really MAD. Apparently, Dr. Martinez feels that it’s within the scope of her professional duties to stretch and twist and edit the truth when dealing with her patients. There were things in those reports that she never told us, important things. And there were things that she assured us had been reported that were no where in writing. I’m in the process of filing an official complaint against her to the Texas Board of Medical Examiners, but what I’d really like to do is go and kick her teeth in…Apparently she’s used to dealing with patients who she can frighten into accepting her word as God and going ahead with possibly needless surgery. This kind of thing shouldn’t be allowed, it’s rude, mean, and possibly negligent.
GrnGrl 