What helped you pass the time?
I had a core needle biopsy yesterday on some calcifications found on mammo (Birads 4B). It’s a holiday weekend so I’m not expecting results until the end of next week. What does everyone do to keep themselves fromgoing crazy while they wait? 🙃
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You do ALL the other things. The things you would do during a normal week, plus a few more if you can manage it. Do you have fun stuff that you've been putting off, like meeting a girlfriend after work? Do you have chores you've been putting off, like a deep clean in the bathroom? Can you get outside for walks, and if not can you get somewhere bright and spacious (Costco?) to stretch your legs and do something to move? Or if you have a regular exercise routine, make sure you keep up with that.
Another thing to do is remember that the vast majority of biopsies come back with a negative result. And that even when it's "positive," it's usually non-invasive or a very small tumor, with a very very good prognosis. And that worrying about it between now and then isn't actually going to change anything, so you don't really need to spend time worrying about it. And remember that a week seems like an enormous amount of time (and yeah, it is, heck in a hand basket), but that it's really not a big amount of time in terms of your health, so don't pile that onto your worries.
Pick your support person or people carefully, and don't share more this week with people than you want to deal with the week after, regardless of the results.
Good luck. I wish you all the best.
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I crammed in as much fun as possible. The day after my biopsy. I went to a great concert. In between tests and scans and appointments, I went to parks, either local ones or state parks a few hours away. I was at one of those state parks when the surgeon called with my results, and we both had a laugh about me trying to squeeze in medical appointments when I had so many places to go. Two days after my lumpectomy, I went out to lunch with a group of friends. It's not just for the immediate good times - it's to build positive memories, so if you do have to go through surgery and treatment, you'll have something besides the dreary medical memories to look back on later. I wasn't about to lose part of a year unnecessarily.
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Mountain Mia - Thank you so much! I did come to my sisters for the weekend. Our kids are close in age so it’s been a nice distraction. I do normally exercise daily but I had an appendectomy one week before my biopsy so I’m on restrictions which hasn’t helped my anxiety but I am at least trying to keep up with daily walks! Costco is a great idea because I can spend hours wandering through there. And good advice about support people.
Alice! Sounds like you know how to have fun! I may have to look into some hikes I can do in our local state park. Thank you!!
I appreciate both of your responses so much. I’m gonna work on staying busy and keeping calm
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