Good morning... how is everyone doing today? I hope you've all had a great week.
My week is still up in the air. As you know, I've had a lot of family things going on and it seems like it just doesn't stop... Last week, I mentioned my sister who is almost sure to have breast cancer. They had to abort her biopsy because the assisted living facility didn't take her off her blood thinning medication soon enough. They'll have to do that this week, I think.
I also mentioned my own mammogram, which was scheduled for last Monday. I did go in for it - don't let anyone tell you that the 3-D is any less painful than the regular mammogram; it's not. The only basic difference is that there's a little "camera" type thing that goes across the area and takes photos of the breast in "slices" so they get a better look at the breast. It does take slightly longer and they do squeeze the breast more tightly - I swear, it had to be a man the developed this test... :-)
Anyway, I got my test done and asked to wait for the results, so they said I wasn't scheduled to get my results, but sure, keep the gown on and sit right here; it'll take about 15 minutes, so I sit down to wait... Sure enough, in about 15 minutes, the tech comes out to say: "Ms Barb, it's a good thing you waited because we need to do an ultrasound; we've called your doctor and are waiting for them to fax over an order for that, so you can just relax here until we get that..." Now, if this doesn't strike fear in a person's heart, nothing will - or at least, it did mine because I know they don't do an ultrasound unless they've found something they need to take a close look at!! So I sit and wait, and wait, and wait... Finally, another tech comes out and tells me my doctor has refused to send over an order for the ultrasound and I can go ahead and get dressed.
Okay, now I'm beside myself, because I know there's something going on and my doctor, who is, typically, very mild-mannered and easy to get along with is refusing to order and ultrasound for "something" found in my breast... This can't be!! So I get dressed and leave the facility. As soon as I get outside, I call my doctor's office, and yes, I was upset... let's not forget, I have all this cancer in my family, with a sister in the very process of being diagnosed with breast cancer, no less!! Anyway, I get the receptionist on the phone and she explains that the doctor didn't "refuse to order" the ultrasound, he wanted to see the results of the mammogram first. Okay, that sounds reasonable at first thought, but on second though, I wondered if he would deny the ultrasound if he decided the mammogram results didn't warrant it and who is he to overrule a radiologist??
Thus we began the cat and mouse game of faxing the mammogram report; I'm sure many of you have been in this situation where one entity says "we faxed it" and the other says "we didn't get it", while you're sitting in the middle with your hands tied... This went on for 3 hours that day and finally just before 5:00, I explained to the gal at my doctor's office that "I'm a little sensitive" about this because of my sister and all the other cancer in the family, etc, etc... once I got that message through, things seemed to move along a little more quickly and they were much more cooperative. The doctor's office did call me back after 5:00 to let me know they'd received the fax and the doctor would look at it as soon as he could. They also called me back first thing the next morning to let me know the doctor had signed an order and they'd faxed it back for multiple further tests, should they be needed... Now to wait for the imaging facility to call me back to set up an appointment for the ultrasound...
I didn't hear anything after a couple of hours so I finally called them. At first, I got the old "we didn't get it", but I urged them to "look again", after which "oh yes, here it is" and we set up an appointment for Wed.
The abnormality turned out to be a cyst, for which no further action is necessary, but that doesn't change the fact that I spent 3 days running on adrenaline while I waited to find this out.
I don't know how many of your go for regular mammograms, but if you don't and you're of an age at which you should, I strongly urge you not to put them off. I've done annual mammograms for many years because I do have very dense breast tissue. This report indicates quite a bit of change over the past year... I've gone from dense tissue to extremely dense, which makes me a greater risk for breast cancer and add to that, my sister (immediate family member), which ups the risk even more.
I also went on Friday for an annual x-ray to check the cysts on my kidneys and the adenomas on my adrenals. I don't expect any surprises there. I'll see my urologist next Friday so that will all be out of the way for another year as well.
As if that wasn't enough, on top of all the other things in the past month, I got a message the other night to call another of my sisters right away, which is odd for this sister... she wanted to tell me that another SIL is in the hospital and might not survive... There was a surgery scheduled for Friday and all I really know is that the surgery went as well as can be expected and the emergency has been averted for the time being... Much as I hate to say it, this sister is not good at communicating - especially with me. Right now, I'm assuming that "no news is good news" but I'll contact either her or other family members in the next couple of days for further info.
So, during all of this, I've somehow managed to gain another pound... I think I'm going to chalk it up to fluid retention and cortisol levels, even though my adrenal glands don't really work the way they should. I've been trying to eat better and/or not as much, plus I did get out walking a couple of times this week. I am bloated - Friday's x-ray should confirm that, so that's a factor as well.
I'll be going back up north for 10 days, starting the 25th of this month, so I'm on a concerted effort to drop, at least, a few pounds, even though I know I won't get back anywhere close to what I was when we went to Iowa in May. I'm actually still trying to figure out what happened/why I gained so much (4-5 lbs) since then...
Anyway, that's my story... I hope your week has been better than mine. I'm beginning to feel like the "drama queen" because there's constantly something happening in my family. One of these days, it has to stop, I'm sure. My sister says that's what happens when we all get older...
~~Wishing you a wonderful, successful week~~