It’s the 3rd of October. Last Monday, after I returned from Summit, I had my sort of annual mammogram. I had the first one when I was 35 and had some cysts and have had them fairly regularly since. Sometimes they required an ultrasound or more checking mostly they didn’t. For the most part a routine test.
The dreaded mammogram machine.
This morning I had my phone in priority mode when only family and doctors’ calls come through. Because I’d forgotten to charge it last night it was in the other room and it rang. Not the ringtone that I have set for the docs at KU Med Center where my husband sees doctors and not with any of my family members’ tone. But with the default tone. Who could that be?
I went to the other room puzzled and saw that it was a call from our primary care office. I answered and it was my doctor. She started in talking about my mammogram and the first thing that crossed my mind was that she wouldn’t be calling unless something wasn’t normal.
There was a spot on it. It had been there for the last two scans but they didn’t get the correct view to see if it had grown.
In the last few years I’ve changed primary care doctors. With this scan I also changed mammogram locations. My last experience hadn’t justified the 80-mile drive. So, a change in doctor, where I’d had my mammogram done, and the radiologist who read it could contribute to the confusion or there may be something there. She would like me to get the correct view, so they can see if it has changed, and an ultrasound.
Oh boy, another mammogram I thought. That’s all I need. With Mike’s illness and frequent trips to KU Med Center, being in the last few months of the Equine Gestalt Coaching Method® certification and my certification final exam looming on Nov 2, and having a busy son who is a junior in High School. I don’t have time for this but time I must make.
It seemed like it took forever for them to call to schedule the ultrasound and I didn’t understand that the mammogram would be at the same time. It was scheduled for Oct 10, I had a checkup with my primary doctor on Oct 13. I hoped the results would be back by then.
All I could do was hope it was a mistake.
This wasn’t the first time I’d had wonky mammogram results, but something felt different this time. The wait was dreadful. All I could do was hope this was all a big mistake, there was nothing there.
They were back. Definitely something there. The doctor wanted me to have a biopsy. OK, Mike has appointments at KU Med Center in 10 days. Do you suppose we can get it done there?
She’d look into it. In the meantime, she talked with the surgeon in Colby. She scheduled me to have the surgeon in Colby do it the next Friday. OK, I have a backup if they can’t get me in at KU.
I left thinking they would send a referral to KU and I had a backup if that didn’t work out. Over the last five years with Mike’s illness, I’ve learned that sometimes you need to take control of your own care. Sometimes this works and sometimes it backfires.
My appointment had been Friday morning so when I hadn’t heard anything from KU on Wednesday I called the primary office to see what had happened. The nurse navigator at KU called almost as soon as I hung up the phone to wait for the nurse at Colby to call back. They would need all my mammograms from the last five years and another mammogram and ultrasound there, they would review them to see if the biopsy was needed. I told them to expedite things I would have the biopsy done here since it was already scheduled.
Shortly my call from Colby was returned and I told the person who did the referral that I had talked to KU and told them I’d go ahead and have the biopsy that was scheduled for Friday in Colby. She said OK and hung up. Immediately the phone rang again. I was told they had canceled the biopsy when they sent the referral to KU so someone would be calling me to schedule it.
Onward! More waiting!
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