Diagnosis (DX)

I've been asked how I found out I had cancer, specifically what made me make an appointment. It was simple, time for annual exam, so I scheduled an appointment with my OB/GYN Dr. Mills.
December 8, 2009
I show up at my doctor’s office and wait, a lot longer than usual, finally the nurse calls me back. She lets me know that Dr. Mills has been called to a delivery at the hospital and I can either wait or reschedule. Since it took me four months to get this appointment, I decide to wait; and just as the nurse is telling me that she will be canceling the rest of her appointments for the day Dr. Mills walks in the door. As soon as she gets settled she comes in and begins my visit. She is really excited that I've lost so much weight (about 40 lbs since October 2007) and I'm excited to find out that I don’t have to have a pap smear this year – bonus. During my breast exam Dr. Mills finds a small lump in my left breast and schedules an ultrasound the next day. Okay. I tell Cody. Maybe it is a bruise from me whacking my chest in a triathlon - entirely possible. But deep down I know that something is wrong.
December 9, 2009
Cody picks me up from work and we head to the women's imaging clinic for my ultrasound. The waiting room is really weird, full of 65+ women and a couple of really obnoxious drug salesmen, one of whom is waiting for his girlfriend to finish her mammogram. I’m called into the back and the rest is kind of a blur. I remember the woman giving me the ultrasound, the mammogram, and the radiologist – I do not like her. She is loud and pushy, walks with a tilted head, and has a habit of talking down to people. In fact, she informs me that if I don’t get a biopsy right this minute that I’m going to die. WHAT?? You don’t say that to people, especially without the pathology results of the biopsy. While I’m lying there, in horrible pain and covered in blood from the biopsy, she makes me an appointment for the next day with a surgeon – again without knowing the results of the biopsy!! I spend the afternoon and evening on the phone with various people talking about what this means, what to do next, etc. I get no sleep.
December 10, 2009
In the morning I receive a call from the radiologist that I have cancer. I ask her to mail me the results and to send them to my doctor. Now back on the phone; determined to get into MD Anderson.

The radiologist was a joke. I had to request the pathology report be sent to my doctor several times, and finally just gave up. She will get the information from MD Anderson. Cody and I have had numerous discussions about what happened and why. How hard it would have been to make rational decisions with the limited information we were originally given? What if we didn’t have access to our family and friends who have tremendous knowledge in the cancer field? What if we went to the surgeon with the mentality of “cut now, diagnose later”?