My Cancer Story

Being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 on my birthday was almost the worst day I can remember.  The worst day was the day I discovered the lump (December '02).  At first I thought it WAS cancer, and then I remembered that MOST lumps are benign.  So I called my oldest daughter who had just had a lump and discovered it to be a cyst and asked her what she did to get the cyst to drain.  She told me she used hot compresses and in a day or two, it opened and drained.  No more lump!  Well, to make a long story short,  I tried it, and it didn't work. 

The following 2 months (the ones I tried to convince myself that it was nothing) were very long.  Finally, I decided that I had to do something about it, and called my ob/gyn.  Their office told me that they were very busy and that they would call me back to schedule an appointment.  I waited!  I called again in Feb '03, and was told their computer was down and they could not schedule until it was back up, and again I left my name and number with them.  And I waited!  In March '03, I called them again...  This time I told them that I was NOT going to be put off.  I would continue to call them back if they hung up, and I would not let them off the hook until I had a day and time!  Finally!  I got the appointment.  To say that her office staff was completely irresponsible and untrustworthy would be putting it mildly.  When I questioned her about it, she said she would speak to them about it.  Got through my exam, and she told me, that being as I was 60, I really did need to get a mammogram and a bone density scan.  She wrote a Rx for me for the Mammo, and called to schedule the bone density scan.  It was for the same day...Happy Birthday, Lois.   At that time, they also scheduled my biopsy.   Being as I had always (since I could choose for myself) had female doctors, when I was told they would make an appointment for me, I asked if there was any ladies who did this procedure.  They told me that there were none in our area.  So they went ahead and made an appointment for me with a surgeon.  

Went and suffered through the   L O N G   bone density scan, and finally went to the hospital with my Rx and was told to wait in the lobby, and that they would be calling me shortly.

Because of the location of my lump, I had to have multiple pictures taken...some with extreme compression of the area.  After waiting, they came and took more....  waiting again, and more were taken.  Finally the torture was over.  The tech came in and told me that the xray doctor wanted to talk to me and that he would be right in.  When he came in, I asked that my husband be present to hear his findings, but he ignored me and continued to tell me that he suspected my lump to be non-cancerous, but to be on the safe side, I should have a biopsy done.