perhaps i should have named this blog " a series of unfortunate events" instead...

yesterday was SUPPOSED to be my surgery day. no, i did not go to the beach instead, although i will admit that i thought about doing just that. i showed up at the hospital on time, and started the pre-op procedures. the first one, of course, involved my check book.

i then went to radiology and was getting ready for the " pin placement" so that the surgeon would be able to see exactly where that darn cancerous mass is located. to my great surprise, the radiologist popped her head in the door and basically said, not so fast! she had reviewed my previous biopsy films and was very concerned about some calcifications that looked suspicious to her. the first radiologist that i had, who did the biopsy on the suspicious mass, noticed these calcifications, but he did not seem to think that they were important. (!)

my " new" radiologist told me that " she had to be able to sleep at night, and that she treated her patients as family".  she had the guts to stop the lumpectomy procedure, and she ended up doing a sterotactic biopsy instead. she took 8 samples, and she made it as painless as she could for me. up to now, i thought that a thyroid biopsy was the most painful procedure that i have ever had. this one tops that. that being said, i literally thank God that i was fortunate enough to have this particular radiologist yesterday.

my surgeon called me this morning and told me that the calcifications were indeed cancerous, and that now i have to have a mastectomy. my treatment plan is now changed, as he put it. i have an appointment with him on tuesday to go over the details. my surgery will hopefully be next week- probably on thursday. my surgeon told me that he was very happy that my radiologist had questioned the results, and acted accordingly. i know that the radiologist saved me from having to have two surgeries, but i think that she may have also saved my life.

i called the hospital because i wanted to thank the radiologist personally. she was off today, they said, but they gave me their mailing address, and i wrote her a thank you note. she must have gotten the word that i wanted to talk to her, because she called me shortly afterwards. i got to thank her over the phone, but i also sent her the note. when someone sticks their neck out for you, and i am sure that she took a little flack for calling off the surgery, that is noteworthy.

the" take away" from my story, is that patients should not be afraid to get a second opinion.i will admit that the " suspicious calcifications" was worrying me. i have had quite a bit to deal with, and i was afraid, i guess. i just thought that the first radiologist would have done what he thought was appropriate, if he felt something was wrong. i was mistaken. trust your instincts- if something feels wrong, then it probably is. get second opinions. if you do not like/trust your doctor, get another one. i know that sounds easy and i almost made a terrible mistake. if i can help someone learn from my mistake, or almost mistake, then i will be happy.

so my journey continues. i am hoping that i have no more surprises or unfortunate events ahead, but one never knows. i have wonderful support from my family and friends, and for that i am forever grateful.