April 13-Two weeks from Diagnosis

The last two weeks have been a full blown whirlwind.

I have had more doctors appointments in the last two weeks that I ever imagined.  And things are moving fast.  WAY FAST. 

I have been my own advocate and it hasn't been easy.  The first hurdle was the doctor.  My doctor referred me to a surgical oncologist who is one of the best that orange coast has to offer.  Unfortunately she's "Out of network" and my insurance won't cover her.  So they refer me to a vascular surgeon who specializes in gall bladders (true story!) I was PISSED and fighting it.  My OB (the most amazing woman ever, really!) tells me to visit the surgeon and that will help my fight for a new doctor.  All I really wanted was a surgical oncologist, not a generic surgeon!!! So I call to make an appointment with the general surgeon and the chick that answered the phone at his office was not friendly.  In. The. Least.  She won't even give me the doctor's NAME until I have my medical records, a demographic sheet and my test results faxed over.  This isn't working for me.  So I call his other office and talk to the office manager.  I start telling her what happened and she's apologizing profusely and makes an appointment for me for the next day.

I meet the surgeon and his first words were "Why do they refer me the breast patients?? I am not breast doctor! That is my daughter" and so he pulls out his cell phone, calls his daughter and I have an appointment with her that afternoon at 3pm.  He gives me her card and the first thing I do is google her.  She's published.  This is a good start.  She's got only good things written about her that I can find.  That's a good start.  We get to her office and it's wonderful.  She's wonderful.  That appointment was over 3 hours long.

During that appointment I learned that I have stage 2 breast cancer.  I have two tumors, one is a little bit bigger than the other.  It appears (in the MRI) that none of the lymph nodes are involved.  This is awesome news.  The left breast is clear.  However, because I have ductile carcinoma in situ and I have two tumors in my right breast she is suggesting a mastectomy of the right breast.  I'm a lot shocked.  I really thought I'd get out with a lumpectomy and be done.  She said that the two tumors and their distance apart and my age all make her a little bit leery of just doing a lumpectomy.

She left me with my options.  We are waiting to get the BRAC test back to test for the breast cancer gene.  Regardless I have made up my mind.  I am doing a dual mastectomy.  We are going to take both breasts and that way I don't have to worry about the cancer as much.  Because if it happened in the right....it can happen in the left....