IT’S (JUST) A TUMOR!

After a long weekend spent with my reasonableness trying to wrestle down my racing mind from dwelling on such horrifying (and useless) things as survival statistics and possible metastasis, and getting a crash course on, well, everything (although I stayed away from the web), I was happy to go to work on Monday for the distraction. The highlight of the weekend was Saturday morning jim and I had the chance to meet Jewell, a friend of my dad’s who had a double mastectomy and chemo 3 years ago. We’d never met, but she dropped everything to meet us and go for a walk. It was wonderful to meet (the first of many) a woman who had/has handled everything with such good humor and grace, and was so open to answering questions and sharing. Just like when I was pregnant, knowing that so many woman have gone through this successfully before me is a real comfort and source of inspiration.

Around noon on Monday my dad left a message that he had GREAT NEWS and was coming over to talk to me. On my way down to meet him, Dr. Miller called to say that the MRI showed just the one tumor, and didn’t indicate any other issues. A lumpectomy suddenly became a real option for me, and more importantly, I’d gotten my first good news. Again, back to the it’s all so relative theme—I would never have thought a week ago that I would be THRILLED to have a diagnosis of a 2.5 cm malignant tumor, but I never thought I would get breast cancer at 33 (or ever), either.
My dad had taken my ultrasound and mammogram films over to the hospital and bullied/charmed the MRI people into giving him the results (which I believe is illegal on several levels) and took it over the surgeon, who took time out to talk to him about it… finally some good news. That morning he set up the following, based on several recommendations he received from god knows how many sources:
THIS WEEK:
• Weds at 3:00: Dr. Ioana Hinshaw, Oncologist recommended by Offerdahl, Gershten & Miller (St. Joe’s area)
• Thursday at 11:00: Dr. Michael Fenoglio, Surgeon recommended by Gershten and my dermatologist (St. Joe’s)
• Friday at 8:30: Dr. Michael Bateman, Plastic Surgeon recommended by Miller (Rose area)
NEXT WEEK:
• Monday at 8:45: PetScan (Rose area)
• Monday at 2:00: Dr. Gary Snider, Plastic Surgeon recommended by Jewell and Gershten (St. Joe’s)
• Tuesday at 8:30: Dr. Scot Sedlacek, Oncologist recommended by Gershten and Miller (Rose)
• Thursday at 9:00: Dr. Stephanie Miller
FOLLOWING WEEK:
• Tuesday (1/31) afternoon: Possible time for lumpectomy performed by Dr. Miller
No one can say we (he) is not diligent. It is a huge comfort to know that I am doing everything I possible could be doing. Luckily, I was supposed to be out of town Tues night through Sunday for a work trip (which I had actually considered going to, but then canceled on Friday—good thing!) so my schedule was pretty clear. Plus, I am amazingly fortunate that my work is extremely flexible—with the hours, location, and projects on which I work, and my clients and project managers are great, and very understanding (although I haven’t told them all yet, I know they will be).