The scary thing on the right breast was just a cyst.
That’s the biggest news of the week.
Thursday 1 June – Thursday 8 June
No one who knows me would be surprised to know that I’m reading a lot. No, not forums and such (eeek!). But medical “stuff.”
Jesse sent me a 200+ page PDF from Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. I have a Kindle Unlimited book, Breast Cancer (2017): 150 Questions and Answers, by Dr. Sattar Memon, associate professor of medicine, emeritus, at Brown University.
I continue to “met” friends-of-friends who have breast cancer. Everyone offers support, of whatever kind I might need.
On Tuesday 6 June, I spent a bit of time on the phone with the nurse navigator at SCCA, learning about what will happen on the 16th.
- We check in at 11.30
- I’ll be seen by a resident, who will take history and do exam.
- We’ll meet with the care team: surgeon, oncologist, radiation oncologist. They have my test results and actual samples.
- Each of them will examine me.
- They’ll give us their recommended treatment plan.
- Somewhere in there, lunch.
On Thursday, I saw Abby for acupuncture.
Friday 9 June
Swedish Breast Center, to check out the right breast. The cyst with floaters was just a cyst; it collapsed upon puncture.
I saw a shadow and asked about it. She immediately probed it and determined that it was normal tissue. When she left, she patted my arm and told me that she was sorry. That’s the point where I started crying.
The technician handed me a tissue and told me that the doctor had just been promoted to be the head of breast radiology for all of Swedish. And that she would not have ended the session had she had any doubts.
Friday 16 June
D-Day: Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.
To say that we were impressed doesn’t do justice to the word. Everyone we interacted with was warm, kind, helpful. Everyone.
More of everything: four different doctors did a breast exam. The oncologist got the job of explaining how cancer works, in general, and how this cancer works, specifically. She was brilliant!
Good news: appears to be caught early. Small, slow-growing, cells aren’t very mutated. Only three weeks radiation.
Another mammogram on Tuesday the 20th. And Savi Scout on Friday the 23rd.
And Father’s Day was the 18th!
Featured image, view from deck at from Ray’s Boathouse, 16 June, post-SCCA appointments.