Today was my surgeon's consult appointment. I had an MRI on October 5th to check the status of the tumour and to determine that there was no cancer in my other breast. It was a long wait for this appointment from diagnoses day it was over 2 weeks, it just about killed me with anxiety.
The surgeon at this point holds the cards for what the next step in dealing with this cancer was going to be. My surgeon was Dr. A. Ross, general surgeon.
Phil, myself and Marlene (my Auntie) waited in the waiting room for over an hour. Marlene and I sat and analyzed everyone who was sitting in the waiting room, and there was an episode with some odd folks who came in abruptly with an obvious need to skip the que. We laughed and murmered to each other and everyone looked at us! It was all we could do to stay sane, it was an almost unbearable wait.
We all fit into the patient room comfortably and a lovely 4th year medical student (Graham) came in to start the appointment. I had a physical exam, of my breasts of course, and he talked a little about what I already knew, which was almost nothing, and then we waited to see Dr. Ross.
Dr. Ross was great, she was full of life, and talked with us for over an hour. She covered all the points:
Size of tumour? 7.6mm
What she was going to do? Partial mastectomy and removal of sentinel node(s.)
What was going to happen after? Radiation therapy and tamoxifen (hormone drug/anti-cancer agent)
When can I have the surgery? 2 weeks
Believe me when I say we had sooooo many more questions, but there were three of us there and she answered every one of them . It was an overall good appointment and I felt really good about the future of this cancer thing.
She gave me literally a small briefcase of materials to read and her clerical assistants personal phone number that I could call anytime I needed. It was very reassuring and helped me breathe a little better.
