Once I was over the shock and the anger (although every day I get a fresh dose of that) I was referred to a well known surgeon in the Chicago area. I waited 3 hours in his office until he gave me the hideous biopsies--don't let people tell you those are nothing either! Big long needles in breast and one in armpit to see if it's already in lymph nodes--which puts you in a whole other stage and danger and leaves you with profound affects after surgery and the danger that it has spread through your entire body. That's why it's CRUCIAL to catch this in Stage 1--because the pain and suffering move to such a different level by Stage 2a and by Stage 2b even more so.
It took me chasing everyone around the next week to find out the results and how bad they were. In the doctor's defense--I accidentally caught a glimpse of his schedule the day of my biopsy--his assistant had it up on the screen-there had to be over 20 women seeing him that day! The finest surgeons cannot possibly fit everyone in due to the epidemic status of this horrid disease. He was good enough to squeeze me in within 2 weeks to do the partial mastectomy before I became a Stage 3! A good man with wonderful people working for him who I relied on so much in the following 3 months of complications that forced me to put off chemo until next Tuesday when I begin. Very important to not wait longer than 3 months for chemo and that's where I am --so do or die--literally...I am starting Nov. 3rd.
GMA segment this AM about 5 sisters dealing with this:
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