My Week in Doctor Visits

Well, for those of you who have kept up with my medical travails, I had a big week of doctor's appointments.  I haven't posted a lot about it on the blog, but I thought I'd put an update up for you all who are interested in how this week went.

On Wednesday, I went to the oncologist for the first time.  I was pretty nervous about going - an oncologist is a "scary" doctor to have to visit in my book.  However, Dr. Zemsky at Georgia Cancer Specialists was very nice, and the appointment went very well.  She took a look at my swollen lymph node on my collarbone, and she actually thinks it may not be a lymph node at all.  It is definitely a cyst, but she says she's 90% sure it isn't cancer.  She told me not to lose sleep over it, and she would send me to a neck specialist to hopefully have the cyst removed and biopsied afterwards.  However, Dr. Zemsky said that - even if we had to leave it because it is very close to my vein - we could just watch it over time, and I still shouldn't worry about it.  So, that was all very positive news! 

The only bad thing about that day was that I had 13 vials of blood drawn!  They said that was more than you give when you donate blood, so that was kind of a lot of blood to watch draining out of my arms ... in fact, the blood stopped coming out of my right arm after 10 vials, and they had to switch to the left elbow for the last 3.  Crazy!  I think that, if I got shot, it would just be a hole straight through me with no blood.  I think I'm empty.  :)

Then, on Friday, I went to the breast specialist for a biopsy on the mass in on my left side.  I actually underestimated the extent of this biopsy.  When I heard "needle core biopsy", I foolishly thought the biopsy pieces would be sucked out through a needle the same size as what you use to get a shot.  Nope - more like a pencil.  So, it was more involved - and more painful - than I'd anticipated.  I'm really sore, swollen, and the recovery will be just a bit more prolonged than I expected.  I'm resting on the couch, icing my chest, and just taking it easy.  I can't pick Katie Anne up - or anything else, for that matter - until tomorrow!  However, it was neat to see everything on the ultrasound and to see the 6 samples they took of the lump. 

I go back next Friday morning to have the dressings removed from the biopsy site and to get the results of my test.  So, I'm relaxing, healing, and keeping my fingers crossed for good news - and a negative result - on Friday morning.