Appointments number 4 and 5

I waited anxiously for a phone call from my family practitioner, who is also a friend. He finally called me later that day and told me he set up a consult with a former colleague of his, a surgeon who specializes in breast procedures. I looked her up and she seemed really nice in her picture. Her office called me and got me in ASAP, which was the following Tuesday, March 22. Six whole days! I was going to lose my mind! I was also armed with new information. I had asked the radiologist what my BI-RAD score was and he told me it was a 4. So now I researched every published article about BI-RAD 4 lesions. No new information, really. A score of 0-2 is benign. A score of 3 is likely benign, follow up in six months. A score of 4 is suspicious for malignancy, biopsy recommended. A score of 5 is probable malignancy, take appropriate action.

Finally, the day came for my surgical consult. By this time, I had put the surgeon up on a little pedestal. In her photo, she was smart and confident, and wore a really sharp suit. Plus, she was voted a Twin Cities top doc for women. I got my images and reports from the radiology department and tore into them. The report was kind of boring. BI-RAD 4B (on a scale from A-C), which was, of course, an intermediate risk. I stripped down into a paper gown and waited in the exam room. The surgeon breezed in, asked me the standard risk factor questions and said, Well, you've done everything right. So I can go now? I asked. Um, no. She did a brief breast exam, couldn't find anything, of course, and explained the surgery to me. First, a radiologist would localize the lesion and place a wire into it. Then I would be given an IV sedative and a local anesthetic and the surgeon would remove the wire and surrounding tissue. They would radiograph the tissue to make sure the wire was in there. Then I would be sutured up.

I would need a pre-op physical from my doctor and the surgeon's office would call me later today to schedule the surgery. Oh, and she told me she was on vacation next week. Then she breezed on out.

Aaaargh!

The surgeon's office called me later and I found out her first availability was April 8!!! Yeah, no. We're leaving for Hawaii the following day and I'm not going to have any swim restrictions and I'm CERTAINLY not going to wait another month.

Many phone calls, texts, and Facebook messages later (really!) and I arranged to have the surgery done by the her partner on the following Monday, March 28, 4 weeks to the day from my first mammogram/speeding ticket. I went in the next day for my pre-op physical, because apparently a surgeon is not capable of assessing whether a patient is healthy enough for sedation.