My ankles have been giving me trouble lately. Twinges of aches and pains and they just don't feel fully healed. Especially the one that was broken. Then the other day I had a Charlie Horse in my calf so bad that it took me quite a while to recover. But that part of me sure feels better now!
I got to my doctor appointment on time. Lexie walked in the door to watch the kids right after I posted my last blog post, so the timing was just fine. The kids were all sick and so it was an easy day for her, they just laid on the couch and coughed on each other.
I got to the clinic at my 10am check-in time and found out that my appointment is for 11am but they wanted me there an hour early to complete paperwork. This time I had three pages of paperwork, which took me about a minute and a half to complete. I even read one of them. Why do they do this to people?
I flipped through an old Time magazine, talked to Katie on my phone (stepped out in the hallway for that, but I could still see the waiting room), and played solitaire on my phone. They kept calling ladies back, and there were a lot of people named Mary. Every time the nurse calling people to the back half the lobby said, "Me?" Kind of comical actually, but it made me worry about files getting mixed up. Hope that doesn't happen.
I don't know when I got called back in, seems like it took forever but I'm pretty sure it was around 10:30. Donned a pink smock and waited in the next waiting room.
Just for the sake of sharing some information that I learned from my Google research, there are four types of breast biopsies. Surgical, Fine needle, Stereotactic and Ultrasound. I was going to be having the latter two because I have micro-calcifications and a micro-mass. I don't have a tumor or a cyst or pain or any symptoms of anything, just some tiny specs on the mammogram. I also don't know a single soul who has gone through this, although from what my doctor said, a biopsy is the one and only way to diagnose breast cancer. I do know a few people who have had breast cancer, but I didn't know they had a biopsy after the mammogram.
I was taken to the Stereotactic Biopsy room. The nurses prepped the room and explained to me how the procedure was going to go. I had some questions, quite a few. They actually said they appreciated getting questions because they are educated in their field and people never realize that they have extensive knowledge about it. Their patients usually just want to know the least amount possible and hurry it all along.
We got to the point in their explanation about "the clip". After the biopsy is taken, they insert a little piece of titanium, shaped like a teeny tiny loop of ribbon in there where they removed tissue. They said it is to mark the spot for future reference. This makes no sense to me. They compare images, there are the medical records, why do I need bling in my boob? Sharp little pointy metal things? Yikes, no thanks! I cannot understand the benefit of this but I was getting the glare from the nurses. I told them no. They went and got the doctor.
This guy comes in and introduces himself, he looked like an older version of Kennan on Saturday Night Live, he even had that same goofy grin. We discussed the clip. He explained it much like the nurses did, but he added that if the biopsy comes back as positive for cancer the clip pinpoints exactly where the surgeon would need to remove the cancer. Otherwise, the surgeon would opt to remove a lot of extra tissue to be sure he got it all . Ok, that makes sense. So, I consented to the clips being inserted. I appreciated the way he came and spent time to explain this to me, and he spoke to me like a person rather than a burden to his day. He didn't act like I was bothering him. I really do appreciate that because this isn't an easy thing to do, and it's also challenging to ask why and disagree with the system.
If you want to know what happened next, you can look up Stereotatic Biopsy on Google or Youtube. What I found was pretty accurate to my experience. Except, the patients in the youtube videos were way more calm and happy than I was. Sure wish I would have gotten some of the drugs they were on! I had a hard time remaining calm. I hyperventilated, snotted and cried, jumped at the noises, gritted through the pain, and the women on the videos had expressions like they were at the spa. It took about an hour and a half to do the biopsy, and that was after the lengthy explanations beforehand. It was 1pm when I was done.
The nurses brought me cookies and orange juice. I had a headache, uncontrollable shaking and I was dry, dizzy and nauseated. Citrus and dry cookies didn't sound good at all. I just wanted a cup of water.
Afterthought: You know what the weirdest thing was? When the doctor inserted the auger (or maybe it was a post-hole digger), he said "deploying the probe". Sounds like something you'd hear if you were abducted by aliens.
I got to my doctor appointment on time. Lexie walked in the door to watch the kids right after I posted my last blog post, so the timing was just fine. The kids were all sick and so it was an easy day for her, they just laid on the couch and coughed on each other.
I got to the clinic at my 10am check-in time and found out that my appointment is for 11am but they wanted me there an hour early to complete paperwork. This time I had three pages of paperwork, which took me about a minute and a half to complete. I even read one of them. Why do they do this to people?
I flipped through an old Time magazine, talked to Katie on my phone (stepped out in the hallway for that, but I could still see the waiting room), and played solitaire on my phone. They kept calling ladies back, and there were a lot of people named Mary. Every time the nurse calling people to the back half the lobby said, "Me?" Kind of comical actually, but it made me worry about files getting mixed up. Hope that doesn't happen.
I don't know when I got called back in, seems like it took forever but I'm pretty sure it was around 10:30. Donned a pink smock and waited in the next waiting room.
Just for the sake of sharing some information that I learned from my Google research, there are four types of breast biopsies. Surgical, Fine needle, Stereotactic and Ultrasound. I was going to be having the latter two because I have micro-calcifications and a micro-mass. I don't have a tumor or a cyst or pain or any symptoms of anything, just some tiny specs on the mammogram. I also don't know a single soul who has gone through this, although from what my doctor said, a biopsy is the one and only way to diagnose breast cancer. I do know a few people who have had breast cancer, but I didn't know they had a biopsy after the mammogram.
I was taken to the Stereotactic Biopsy room. The nurses prepped the room and explained to me how the procedure was going to go. I had some questions, quite a few. They actually said they appreciated getting questions because they are educated in their field and people never realize that they have extensive knowledge about it. Their patients usually just want to know the least amount possible and hurry it all along.
We got to the point in their explanation about "the clip". After the biopsy is taken, they insert a little piece of titanium, shaped like a teeny tiny loop of ribbon in there where they removed tissue. They said it is to mark the spot for future reference. This makes no sense to me. They compare images, there are the medical records, why do I need bling in my boob? Sharp little pointy metal things? Yikes, no thanks! I cannot understand the benefit of this but I was getting the glare from the nurses. I told them no. They went and got the doctor.
This guy comes in and introduces himself, he looked like an older version of Kennan on Saturday Night Live, he even had that same goofy grin. We discussed the clip. He explained it much like the nurses did, but he added that if the biopsy comes back as positive for cancer the clip pinpoints exactly where the surgeon would need to remove the cancer. Otherwise, the surgeon would opt to remove a lot of extra tissue to be sure he got it all . Ok, that makes sense. So, I consented to the clips being inserted. I appreciated the way he came and spent time to explain this to me, and he spoke to me like a person rather than a burden to his day. He didn't act like I was bothering him. I really do appreciate that because this isn't an easy thing to do, and it's also challenging to ask why and disagree with the system.
If you want to know what happened next, you can look up Stereotatic Biopsy on Google or Youtube. What I found was pretty accurate to my experience. Except, the patients in the youtube videos were way more calm and happy than I was. Sure wish I would have gotten some of the drugs they were on! I had a hard time remaining calm. I hyperventilated, snotted and cried, jumped at the noises, gritted through the pain, and the women on the videos had expressions like they were at the spa. It took about an hour and a half to do the biopsy, and that was after the lengthy explanations beforehand. It was 1pm when I was done.
The nurses brought me cookies and orange juice. I had a headache, uncontrollable shaking and I was dry, dizzy and nauseated. Citrus and dry cookies didn't sound good at all. I just wanted a cup of water.
Afterthought: You know what the weirdest thing was? When the doctor inserted the auger (or maybe it was a post-hole digger), he said "deploying the probe". Sounds like something you'd hear if you were abducted by aliens.
Then I was taken to an ultrasound room for my next biopsy. Yup, another one! They said this one would be more comfortable. That's a fine word to use. I notice a lot of terms are tossed around loosely like that. The ultrasound tech found the little spot and I saw it on the screen; it looked like Leafman's nose. The same doctor came in and I told him that I cannot watch. Since I was still shaking like a leaf from the last biopsy, I think they were more than willing to accommodate my request. I was allowed to put my arm over my face instead of just above my head where they first told me to lay it.
This biopsy was a lot faster. It only took a few minutes and it wasn't nearly as bad as the first one. The doctor finished and said, "Double Whammy! Two biopsies in a row for you. Now you are a biopsy pro." Stick that on my resume.
The doctor said that since both my spots were so super tiny, that the biopsies might remove the whole thing. He said about 85% of biopsies are nothing, but the rest of them are cancer or pre-cancer. I'll hear in a week the results. I now have two clips and I may have some discomfort and bruising.
I had to have another mammogram now, to show the position of the clips. I didn't think I could take any more, but this was the end of it. The nurse wrapped me up in a giant ace bandage and told me to keep it on for 24 hours.
It was just after 2pm when I was leaving the clinic. They told me not to drive home because I was still shaking! I could not stop! I promised to call someone to drive me and then they let me go. Of course, I didn't. Who was I going to call? I drove myself home, very cautiously.
When I got home, I took a pain pill that I had left over from my broken ankle. Thank goodness I still have a few of those! The novocaine was worn off and my boob was throbbing!
The next day I was pretty sore, and I have huge purple bruises. Huge! I also took off the ace bandage and put on a soft bra that has no wires. Ah, much better! I should have done that as soon as I got home.
I took it easy and used my arm to protect my right side from bumps and hugs. Lexie and Keith were at work so I had all the kids. I just kept feeding them and kept the movies going on the tv. They were sick and fairly easy to manage for once. I took Excedrin Migraine instead of my broken ankle pain pills, and that seems to work pretty well and didn't make me sleepy.
It's been a couple of days now and I'm still sore, but not bad. I can do what I need to do as long as I don't get bumped. Righty is a very beautiful deep purple color. The steri-strips itch.
My sister taught me this wonderful recuperation trick; when she went to the dentist, she followed it up with retail therapy: shopping! The biopsy double whammy retail therapy purchase is a new couch. It's awesome! Shopping does make a girl feel better!
Glad you made it home safely. Hope some of the soreness is gone now. I didn't have those kinds of biopsys, but I can still empathize with you. I had mine in the hospital and then went to Pat's house so I wouldn't be alone. Was alone as she had to work, but I slept on her couch all day. She had to let Ed know where I was when he came home from school.
ReplyDeleteGlad that my therapy helped. I have mammograms every year and I did have to have an ultrasound one once. I have a different mindset than you. I just want it done and do what needs to be done let's go. I ask questions but then still get it done. Hope that everything turns out ok, sounds like I will need to be making a road trip.
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