Running out of tests to run on Leaky aka my breast cancer concern

Okay, readers, fess up – who’s the one who wished I’d live in interesting times? *sigh*

Still not much to report since last week, but here’s what’s been going on –

A little addlebrained.

I can’t believe I forgot to mention one of my crazy-making moments from last week! Remember how I said I finally decided to have my MRI locally because the machine in Boston was broken? Last Monday, a mere three days before my MRI was scheduled, I got a call from the hospital. The wicked awesome nurse (seriously, she’s very cool) said in effect, “I’m so sorry to tell you this, but our machine broke, and we’ll have to re-schedule you.”

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However, she called me back the very next day, and told me not only did they have the necessary piece shipped overnight and installed first thing in the morning, but she hadn’t pulled me off the schedule, just in case, so Thursday was still a go!

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Bit of a hothead

Ever since my biopsy on July 20th, I’ve been keeping tabs on my temperature. It’s never higher than than 99F/37.2C-ish, but never normal (story of my life *grin*), which is why I thought my dizziness was a sign of an ear infection. However, now that I know it’s vertigo, my perpetual furnace state has me a bit concerned. I mean, on the one hand, anytime anyone goes to hug me, they usually jump back and yell, “Holy crap! You’re like, radiating heat!” which seems like classic hot flash to me. However, my skin feels a bit sensitive and I keep getting goosebumps, which is usually my warning sign for impending fever.

Oh, and hubby insists on calling them, “power surges” instead of “hot flashes.” While I appreciate his positive perspective, it’s hard to feel powerful when sweat is dripping down your back.

So, first thing last Monday, I called my PC and left a message, asking what to do. I also mentioned I had an appointment later in the day with the general surgeon to get my MRI scan results (which I already knew were normal) and I planned to ask her about my temp while we discussed the next step. The nurse called back a short time later, and said to definitely bring it up with the GS. However, to be on the safe side, they’d already set up lab paperwork for a fasting blood draw, and it was waiting for me at their front desk.

Also, no big surprise, my blood pressure has been running high since this started. It’s around 140ish over 88ish whenever I check, and sky high for every medical office visit. However, it did the same before my hysterectomy (which is why I have a blood pressure cuff at home), so I’m guessing it will get better when this mystery is solved. In the meantime, I’m doing my best to treat it with vodka accordingly.

To cut, or not to cut.

Monday afternoon, hubby brought me to the general surgeon’s office. When I was checking in, I chatted with the receptionist about Mercury being in Retrograde (I swear she brought it up), and ended up giving her my business card for my blog. Silver linings, right?

We had a great chat with the doc. She said my MRI results indicate the odds are in my favor when it comes to cancer, but we only have two more options to figure this out. The first choice (and her preferred option) is a Ductogram, which is less invasive procedure. I’d be awake, but numb (again, story of my life *snicker*) as they inserted contrast dye into the milk duct to see if they could find any signs of an issue (madly paraphrasing here, of course). The second, an Excisional Biopsy, would be done under general anesthesia. She’d make an incision, then take samples of tissue from the nipple and surrounding areas to see what might be causing the bleed.

She left the room so I could change into one of their lovely gowns (she wanted to take another look at the discharge) and disappeared for close to a million hours 15 minutes.

Decisions, decisions.

When she returned, she said she’d contacted a colleague to see what he had to say about our choices. While his immediate response was Door Number Two, she still wasn’t convinced she wanted to put me through that before trying Number One. I told her I was fine with either choice, and she said she’d call me in a day or two, after a bit more discussion.

Since Friday morning was the best day for us to head in for my blood draw, I spent the rest of the week alternately breaking, then fixing, this website in the hopes of reducing the load on my hosting server, and increasing optimization. I tried 19 bazillion different plugins and bits of code, until I think I found the right combo. Speaking of which, please shout out if you find anything that’s gone wonky.

Exercising my tear ducts again.

Bright and early Friday morning (so, around 10am) we headed off to the blood draw. I’ve been there enough times with various family members that chatting with the phlebotomist feels like having coffee with a friend. I filled her in on what’s been happening, and she after hearing my tale of woe, asked if I’d considered a Prophylactic Mastectomy. “After all,” she said “you can’t get cancer in what you don’t have.” I told her it would definitely be something I talk to my doctor about when this situation was resolved. We chatted a few more minutes, then as we were leaving she looked at me for a long moment then, in the most compassionate and terrifying way possible said, “I’ll be seeing you.” I made it to the front door before I started crying.

Limpy isn’t limpy anymore!

The best (if bittersweet, because I really loved having him home) news of the week is that hubby’s ankle has healed enough to return to work. While this most certainly was not how I envisioned spending our 30th summer together, he made the situation a thousand times better with his presence (and ever present puns). Love you, hon.

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Has it been a day or two yet?

Early Friday afternoon, the general surgeon called. Straight off, she apologized for how long it took to get back to me, but said she’d been consulting with bunches of people. Long story short, she discovered very few hospitals still do ductograms, and the results aren’t terribly reliable, meaning I might still end up needing the excisional biopsy afterwards.

So as it stands now, I’m waiting for a call from the hospital to schedule me for the surgery. She guesstimated they’d call me some time early this week, and the date would be around two weeks out. That’s also about the amount of time the chiropractor wants me to wait before doing any further maneuvers for my vertigo (which is much better, but still an issue).

Next up – a visit to the oncologist later this week to discuss my risk factors, and possible genetic testing. The fun never ends!

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