Best Of

I’ve been reading for a while and decided to join earlier in the week. I live in New Orleans , Louisiana. I, fortunately, already had a breast doctor to whom I was referred by a NP friend of mine because I have fibrocystic and dense breast. I’ve been a patient of his for almost seven years. In the beginning, I would get a mammogram and then about six months later, an ultrasound. About two years ago, I was getting annual 3-D mammograms. Results were almost always identical. All good. In early September of this year, my husband said he felt a lump in my breast. I said, it’s fine, I have lumpy breast - haha. Two days later on Saturday , September 6, 2025, while showering, I felt a huge lump on the very top of my left breast. I told my husband, I felt a lump and I’m scared. I had to wait until Monday and I called my breast doctor (who is actually a surgical oncologist - I never paid attention to that). His office had me come in immediately which was Tuesday, September 9. He is affiliated with Tulane University and he teaches medical students. I was first ushered into the mammogram room and had a very thorough mammogram. After the mammogram, I went into another room and had an ultrasound. My physician always asks if it’s okay to have students present and I’m fine with that as we have child who is an MD. As the technician was performing the ultrasound, doctor was speaking with the students, no so much so that I’d be too concerned, but I was hypersensitive to every single thing that was happening. First, the technician was going over and over the same area and taking so many pictures that I knew something was amiss. I was scared. I got dressed and my doctor had me come to his office. His demeanor was not his usual jovial self. He told me I needed to have a biopsy. He said about 95% of tumors turn out to be benign and I was scheduled for the biopsy on September 15. I went back to his office and went back to the ultrasound room and he, the technician and a student began performing the biopsy. He spoke to me about what to expect, what they were doing, punch noise, placing a clip in ancillary node and breast tumor, etc. He told me he’d be send a prescription for pain medication to CVS just in case I needed it. I got dressed and returned to his office. Again, he was somber. He’d be a lousy poker player. He told me it would take about a week or so to get the results. I looked at him and said, “you’ve been doing this for 40+ years so I know you know even without the results.” He looked down and then looked straight at me and said he was 95% sure it was a malignancy. I burst into tears and he got up and gave me a hug. I left and began the longest 10 days of my life awaiting the results. During this time, I cried a lot and tried to continue to study and complete my certifications, etc.

I am a healthcare insurance agent and Annual Enrollment Period would begin on October 15. I am licensed in eight states and chose this year to add a couple other plans to my portfolio to be able to offer my clients more options (this was before I knew about the struggle I’d be going through). I remember one morning dropping to the floor screaming and crying and I needed to get my $hit together because I had an in person training to attend that morning. My husband would be at work when I had these bad breakdowns, but I also had a lot of crying spells in front of him, too. I did get dressed and took care of business.

My husband and I went to see doctor on September 24, and I received my official diagnosis. I had IDC. It was HR-, but HER2 was pending.

I have to run, but will continue this later,

Thanks y’all!

Sorry to read the news that you will be staying around here. You deserve to take the day off.

My onco doc said that hormone negative BC is very responsive to chemo. I didn't have that much chemo, but I did have a year of Herceptin.

Done writing for a while.

@betrayal So sorry about your crappy day. What a horrible experience. I forget where you live, but four hospitals? Ouch! All of my drs except for my pulmonologist and dermatologist are in the same system. They have four hospitals in the Springs and more in Denver, with labs and dr offices scattered all over. If they ever go bust we are in big trouble. Even my DD works for UCHealth although at Children's Hospital branch which is physically connected.

Very cold today with 2" snow on the ground and more expected Wed night.

Got a message from MO office wanting to schedule a PET scan since my TMs are still rising even though CT scan was good. Feels like hide and seek!

Horrible day because it was my annual mammogram and it was a real shit show again. I had mammogram and then 3 spot films of area where they performed stereotactic bx last year. Then radiologist decides I need an ultrasound. So there was an inordinate amount of waiting even though initial access was the fastest ever. The rooms are very cold, so the techs have to supply warmed blankets which unfortunately don't stay warm for long. By the time they finally came to get me to escort me to the ultrasound, I needed blanket 3. She said her room was warmer, but she wasn't truthful. I arrived before at 1:40 and never got out of there until 3:30. Thank goodness, they do provide free parking though you have to go through getting it validated by office staff who had left by the time I was ready to leave. So I had to go over to the adjoining building's MRI desk to get it validated. Left with letter saying I need another dx mammogram in 6 months. That will push me into my 10 year anniversary year of being diagnosed. I have to reach out to MO to get her to order dx mammogram, so I sent her an email via the portal. I won't see her until January, but would like to order now so I can get an appointment. We had a major hospital chain (4 hospitals) go belly up in the past 6 months, so their thousands of patients are scrambling to not only find physicians, but also to get appointments.

Then I went online to the portal of my other hospital system to get a copy of my Dexascan report. I could not access the portal, was told I needed to change my password and every attempt at that took over an hour and I got nowhere. I called tech support and he said he was sending me a link via email, but it never came and he tried several times.

I just paused to check my inbox and his link never came through but I did get a valid code to sign in, changed my password and sent an email to my GI doc who I have been trying to get an appointment with in 2026 since May of 2025. They keep telling me she has no openings in her schedule, and they will contact me when she does. So seven months later, I am still in limbo with her instructions to see her in a year. So rant over now,

It was a sunny, but very cold day with temps barely over freezing. I ran to Staples after my mammogram to buy replacement pages for my desk organizer. I do put appointments in my phone, but find it easier to keep track in my book where I can look at a whole month, and then leaf through for other conflicts. They were shorthanded and I was in line with a purchase wedged in between others shipping packages. He did ask and finally got someone up to run the register. I normally don't like self-checkout, but might have welcomed it today. So all my appointments for next year, dates of planned trips, etc have been duly entered.

My appointment for Pulmonology was canceled this morning and rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. We are expected to get that snow storm that has been sweeping in from the midwest starting tomorrow morning. I am reluctant to trust that I could get there and back if we get any coverage. Our driveway is very steep, faces north and ices easily. I don't dare hike up or down now for a fear of a fall with my osteopenic hips. Better safe than sorry. This way she will have a weeks worth of data to analyze as well.

intolight, I loved Colorado Springs in the summer, but don't think I would like it in the winter. Felt the same about Jackson Hole, but did brave a January trip there to see the Elk preserve. Felt like an icicle the entire time and like an onion, I had multiple layers. I felt like the Michelin man in all the layers and doubted I could have righted myself if I fell.

carole, sorry about the fluid retention post -Thanksgiving feast. There is so much salt in prepared foods today and sugar, too. DD brought a lattice topped apple pie that the bakery added sugar to the top crust. It was so sweet, I could not eat it and peeled if off. DSIL offered to get rid of it for me, meaning he was going to eat it and he did.

cindyny, glad blood work was good. Are you pre-diabetic? Was wondering about the A1C's.

Guess that's about it for today. My feet feel like blocks of ice and I am cold in spite of having a fleece 1/4 zip top on. I'll add another layer and look for my warm slippers.

Hope everyone had a better day than me. Waving "hi" to everyone.

Wow… so far I feel fortunate. There are two large hospitals in the UC system that I visit regularly, and the other two are smaller but fine. The older one is known in the city as the best cancer center here (unless you want to travel to Denver) and is where I attend my oncologist's office. It was bought by the UC Health system and is the oldest in the city. The other one is newer but also has a cancer center, a good infusion center and both have scans, etc. I live about midway between the two , about a 30 minute drive, so I go to the one where I can get the best appointment. Sometimes the nurses, PAs, etc., float between the hospitals. There are three other large hospitals in different systems within the City too. Colorado Springs is growing rapidly and like everywhere else, finding medical doctors is tough. We moved here four years ago. I found my oncologist because I got sick as soon as we moved, went to an urgent care and the doctor there referred me realizing I was already into six years of being mbc. It got me in quicker. I took the first oncologist who accepted me in two weeks thinking I could always change, but I am happy with her.