My Diagnosis

My medical confession - I was a year and a half late for my mammogram. Surely after 10 years of yearly mammograms I had bought a free pass to be late? After all, I was not at risk! Alas, it was the lump that had me frantically dialing my OB/GYN's phone number to schedule my annual checkup. As we have all experienced, there is a time lag between that call and the subsequent GYN appointments and follow-on mammograms - in my case, several weeks during which complacency sustained me in Denialland!

My GYN was apparently concerned enough by the appearance of my breast that she wrote a prescription for not only a mammogram, but also an ultrasound "if needed". The morning of the mammogram I was lucky enough to have the radiologist on site to immediately read the mammogram and order the ultrasound. I knew enough to recognize that that was not a good development and that I was well on my way down the highway from Denialland to Concernville.

Have you ever known a person to be more vague and noncommittal than the technician performing a diagnostic test? They must send them to workshops to learn how to keep a passive face and totally eliminate any verbal indication about whether or not what they are seeing is good news or bad. It was with mixed emotions that I met the radiologist with a firm handshake and swift arrival in Cancertown. Did I mention that my family and I were in the middle of a move from Virginia Beach to Bruxelles, Belgium? A detour was now on the map. My husband was in Bruxelles already, arriving in two days for the packout. The radiologist's words dealt more with how I would manage the logistics of my cancer treatment during my move than they did the diagnosis. I had to back him up a little and ask him what he meant by the "specific characteristics" of cancer. Crystalized formations? Hmm, obviously radiologist lingo! Suffice it to say, he left me with no doubt that this was cancer and I should start planning accordingly. Well, anyone who knows me knows that if there is one thing I can do, it is plan for all contingencies.

The next day I had the core biopsy -five samples taken and hand carried by my surgeon to the path lab simply because he knew I was moving out of my house in less than one week and NEEDED the diagnosis confirmed. Several frozen sections later, I sat in his conference room and heard the confirmation that my lump was cancer. I had no time for disbelief - my daughter was having oral surgery the next day, my husband arrived in from Bruxelles shortly after her surgery, my son left for a Boy Scout campout the next afternoon, and I had to pack for the unknown - treatment, surgery, reconstruction in either Virginia, Texas, or Belgium. I was lucky to have options, wasn't I? I didn't think so - it made my packing impossible!

The day after the biopsy, a Friday, I made the decision to get a second opinion at MD Anderson in Houston, Texas. To do so, I had the help of Suzy Q at the surgeon's office in scheduling all the tests that MD Anderson required for a consultation - chest xray, bone scan, breast MRI, CT scan, and blood work. She was on the ball - I managed all of that in 4 days thanks to her. (By the following Tuesday, I had the news that the tumor did not appear to involve the chest wall nor did it appear to have spread.)

It was during my daughter's surgery that same Friday that I learned that my specific cancer was one of the most common forms of breast cancer - ductal carcinoma. Invasive ductal carcinoma to be exact. This is what Dr. Walters at MD Anderson would later call "garden variety" cancer - a good thing since the treatment protocol is well established.

To top this day off, as they wheeled my daughter out of surgery and out of the building, I went to get the car, only to discover it had a flat tire! I knew how it felt.