I know not everyone has a pathologist, but I will say that I have the BEST one. I am going to have her read all of my future biopsies, assuming I ever have any more. Today was the day we met with Dr. P (for pathologist) to look at my slides. Lisa and I drove back down to Abbott this morning and wandered around the basement of the hospital looking for her office. We somehow ended up in the actual lab itself because we were on the wrong floor. The lab tech told us Dr. P was on vacation. Yeah, I know. But she came in just to meet with us, I replied.
She's that good, I tell you.
We were escorted up to her office, which had no windows. When I commented on that, Dr. P said, There are no windows in pathology. Ooohhh, so nobody can see the dead bodies? I wondered to myself. But this was just her office. Only books and a microscope, no bodies.
So she whipped out my slides and gave me a microscopic tour. It was kind of weird, I admit. She was discussing them like you would a clinical case, except these were MY CELLS we were looking at. She showed me the areas of atypical cells from the first biopsy that could or could not be considered cancerous. She then showed me the slides from the surgical biopsy, which were much better behaved. She also gave me a copy of a very recent paper titled Bordeline Breast Lesions: Diagnostic Challenges and Clinical Implications, which highlights the fact that these cases can be difficult to diagnose. She also told me that the pathologist who originally called the biopsy DCIS still stands by her diagnosis. So, according to one pathologist I had cancer. Whatever. It's sort of water under the bridge by this time. Dr. P was still very sorry that she allowed the other pathologist to make the call (It was a moment of weakness on my part, she told me). I'm over it. I agree that these can be difficult cases. However, in retrospect they should have sent the original biopsy out for another opinion before giving me cancer, but these things happen. I told her that in vet med we NEVER have cases that you could call either way and we all had a good laugh over that sarcastic comment.
Dr. P also spoke to my surgeon just that morning and has already called my oncologist (whom I will meet in a couple of weeks) to explain the situation. It is great to have her on my side.
On a weird side note, we discussed our families and we found out that she has two adult daughters. I somehow ended up telling her about my frustration with spending so much free time driving my kids around and she said that she did the same thing, but is glad she did. One of them is in med school and one is pre-med. She attributes their success in part to all of the activities they were in when younger. So fine. I will continue to sit in the rain watching my boys play soccer. Because my pathologist said so.
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