7/30/2005 05:08:00 PM|W|P|Kelley Green|W|P|Wow...anyone that tells you that core biopsies don't hurt is full of *#%.. Monday was pretty grueling (as evidenced by it taking me until now to write). They do all of these things under a local anesthetic (lydicain) which is general used in dentist's offices. Well, guess what, I don't respond well to lydicain. Not a big shock, but still. It made the process of taking the samples that they needed much worse that it should have been. We got the core needle biopsy of the main tumor (yes, we can refer to it as such now). They also got the biopsy of the microcalcifications..actually I think as tiny as they are they just removed them all, but it amounts to the same thing. The smaller mass they couldn't find. A trained technician and the radiologist herself couldn't find it on sonogram..so that test had to be postponed until this coming Monday when we'll go back to have an MRI guided biopsy, if they can find it then. There is some speculation that it may have been a 'ghost'. We'll see. My luck doesn't seem to be running in that direction right now. The next day the doctor called....it's cancer. Okay, we kindof expected that. The microcalcifications were benign. This is *very* good news. The tumor is smaller than was originally thought (1.8 cm). This is also good news. It is an interductal carcinoma, the most common sort of cancer for women my age. It has a Blooms Anderson score of 5, which means that it is a type 1 cancer on that rating, the best it can be...also good. The bad news is that it's invasive, which means it has broken through the tumor walls and started spreading to the surrounding tissue. Only surgery will tell how far and whether it has affected the surrounding lymph nodes. The doctor remains hopeful that such a small (he said it) tumor will not present a significant spread. We can hope. Currently, I am scheduled for surgery on Thursday, August 4 at South Austin Hospital. I'm supposed to meet with my oncologist, Dr. Larry Tokaz, on Monday afternoon. Go to the hospital for intake paperwork on Wednesday morning and meet with Dr. He (pronounced - huh) Wed afternoon. Dr. He is a Chinese herbalist and acupuncturist. He is also the leading teacher at the school of Chinese medicine here in Austin. His private practice specializes in supporting patients of orthodox cancer therapy with traditional chinese medicine. I will be very interested to meet with him. If you call and noone answers or we can't call back, please don't think that we don't appreciate it. I do, we do, we will. It's just a little crazy right now. I sometimes feel like I should have the phone grafted to my ear, I spend so much time talking to people. And sometimes, I just need to not talk at all. Everyone is being so amazing in there support of us. The school is helping with Aidan's tuition. We've found a counseling center that offers individual support for children whose family are experiencing major illness, for free. Wow. We've had so many people offer to be here, to cook for us, to help with the children. Thank you all. Your love and good wishes are inspiring and help me get through the waiting.|W|P|112276951409019549|W|P|How many??|W|P|kelley@grngrl.com7/26/2005 10:58:00 AM|W|P|Kelley Green|W|P|Monday we went for the Mammogram and Sonogram Tuesday I saw Dr. Doom for the first time...did a FNA biopsy Wednesday Dr. Doom told us that despite indeterminate pathology, she thought I had cancer and should decide between lumpectomy (breast conservation) and Mastectomy. Wednesday afternoon we go for an MRI and Chest X-ray....some itch of reason starts to occur Thursday we go to see Dr. Blair who tells us "Load of ...." and gets us an appointment with another doctor for Monday. Thursday afternoon Dr. Doom calls back and says that the MRI supports her opinion and found another spot on the opposite side of the same breast...when did I want to schedule surgery.... So...here we are. I say, shakily, "We're going to get a second opinion." I have to tell you, I think that was one of the strongest statements of my life. I was scared senseless and still here I was telling this woman that we were going to wait and talk to someone else. She was non-pulsed and said they would wait to hear from us. I went and took another little pink pill. Whew. The weekend was quiet, though a little highly-strung. I realized that I had lost over 3 pounds in four days and called my GP. They suggested trying to gain a little back :) Here comes the high protein diet...and Dove bars (there is a silver lining to everything, my friends). Monday morning I was a wreck. I knew that Dr. Blair liked this man. I knew that he was likely to be a more human doctor and that we would probably be much more comfortable working with him. But he could still say the exact same thing and then where would we be... Dr. Worchel was wonderful. We had a long talk (with some poking and prodding) and went over the pathology reports together. He was genuinely shocked at Dr. Doom's behavior and astounded that I didn't have a copy of all of my reports. I do now. We talked options and Dr. Worchel expressed surprise and approval that I had done so much reading and could actually discuss my situation and the options available. He told us that there really was no definite diagnosis yet and that the MRI report actually strongly suggested more detailed testing before making a determination about diagnosis and treatment. (Dr. Doom left that bit out.) So...more tests. We are going in Wednesday morning for... Sonogram assisted Core Needle Biopsy (CNB) on the mass at 10 o'clock Sonogram assisted CNB on the tiny (! 7mm !) spot at 2 o'clock (my breast is a clock - alright) Magnification Mammogram on some calcifications (Calicifications are mostly normal but can sometimes be an issue. If these look suspicious, they'll biopsy them as well.) And if they can't poke the little one with the sonogram assist, we'll go for an MRI assisted biopsy at another facility. Good lord, you say, so many tests. But this will lead to an absolute diagnosis that will tell us what the surgical options really are. I'm tired of 'maybe' and 'indeterminate'. We should have pathology by Friday afternoon at the latest. And I hope this silly thing will come out next week. In the meantime, I'm tired...and I'm really, really MAD. Apparently, Dr. Martinez feels that it's within the scope of her professional duties to stretch and twist and edit the truth when dealing with her patients. There were things in those reports that she never told us, important things. And there were things that she assured us had been reported that were no where in writing. I'm in the process of filing an official complaint against her to the Texas Board of Medical Examiners, but what I'd really like to do is go and kick her teeth in...Apparently she's used to dealing with patients who she can frighten into accepting her word as God and going ahead with possibly needless surgery. This kind of thing shouldn't be allowed, it's rude, mean, and possibly negligent.|W|P|112240212234751696|W|P|So Where Was I?|W|P|kelley@grngrl.com7/25/2005 08:17:00 PM|W|P|Kelley Green|W|P|Three weeks ago (or so) I found a lump on the outside of my right breast. I thought, "Hmmm, Cassidy just stopped nursing. I'll give this a little while and see if it's just a mammary thing." I waited a week and it didn't go away..and it was sore. So I went to see me friendly GP, Dr. Brand who said, "It's probably just a cystic mass, but if you were my wife I'd have you get a mammogram." So off I go, the next Monday, to get a Mammogram and a sonogram (detects cysts better in younger breast tissue). By the end of the day, everything was definitely not 'okay'. The report 'showed an abnormality that requires further follow-up by your physician or other health-care provider...." I call Central Family Practice (where I saw Dr. Brand) and say "So hey...this isn't good." They give me a couple of names and I call around. The named physicians aren't available right now and I get referred on to....da da da dum...Dr. Doom, otherwise known as Dr. Kelly Martinez. I go to see Dr. Martinez. She looks at my report, looks at my chest, does a brief sonogram of the area and tells me I have cancer. Geesh. She says the lump is huge and that she's almost positive that it will be malignant, more than likely having spread into the surrounding lymph nodes. Okay...I'm a bit shaky now. She wants to do a Fine Needle Aspiration (biopsy) right then...okay, like I'm going to argue at this point. She says come back tomorrow and well discuss the results...you might want to bring your husband. No kidding. I'm understandably freaked at this point. I call CFP back (they all know me) and talk to one of the nurse practitioners who very helpfully prescribes some nice little pink pills to help me not hyperventilate. We wait.... Wednesday. Sam and I go to Dr. Martinez's office. We sit in the waiting room....we sit in the exam room...the nurse comes in and tells us that Dr. Martinez is still on the phone with the pathologist. Uh-oh. Finally, Dr. (Doom) Martinez arrives with an inconclusive pathology report. They cannot accurately call it cancer, but it looks 'very suspicious'. Dr. Doom then proceeds to try and convince us that she's still certain that it's cancer and that pathologists only say that to allow doctors the latitude to perform breast conservation surgery instead of mastectomy. She wants to schedule an MRI and chest x-rays to pin it down once and for all. And do I know if I want to have a mastectomy or a lumpectomy? Are you kidding lady? Sam and I go in to talk to Dr. Blair (Central Family Practice again) who we both know and love. Dr. Blair is one of those rare doctors that actually sits and talks to you. He only takes so many patients a day so that he has time to answer questions. He saw us on extremely short notice and said, "Kelley, we don't have a diagnosis." He looked at the pathology, he looked at me..poked, prodded, and said he would have someone call me before the end of the day to set up an appointment with a new surgeon whom he had worked with for years...Dr. Harvey Worchel. Second opinion time....to be continued...|W|P|112235111115291514|W|P|The Beginning|W|P|kelley@grngrl.com