The meeting with both the oncologist and the breast surgeon at the same time was unlike any other doctor appointment I have ever had. It was terrific. They had a special consultation room that was decorated like a day spa. The lighting was subdued, the furniture comfortable, and the exam table hidden behind a wood and rice paper screen. It was designed to put women with recent cancer diagnoses at ease, and it worked on me as designed.
They pulled up my mammogram images, and were looking them over when I commented that the Mr and I were glad that I didn't go forward with the resculpting and reduction surgery last summer when I had first met with the plastic surgeon. The first question the surgeon asked after that was did I want to go ahead and do the reduction along with the lumpectomy, so I only go through surgery once for all of this. I'm sure my eyes lit up like Christmas when she said that. So that is the plan. I need to get a new consultation with the plastic surgeon who works closely with this cancer center, and I should be on the schedule to have it all done in mid-August.
Then it was the oncologist's turn. The good news is that they don't do chemo for this level (DCIS is considered stage zero cancer). They will do radiation after the surgery, and we will decide later whether I stay on tamoxifen or move up to an aromatase inhibitor (which I didn't do before because those don't play nice with fibromyalgia.)
They got a bit more assertive about getting genetic testing, which I didn't move on last year because it didn't seem like my insurance would cover it. Both doctors sounded confident that they would be able to press the issue with Tricare since this is my second round of cancer in two years. So I left behind a vial of blood before I left.
Exam time was when it really got weird. They palpitated my breasts and felt lymph nodes under my arms at the same time, and then switched sides and did it all over again. That wasn't a position I'd ever expected to find myself in (and no, I shan't be writing a "Dear Penthouse" letter about it.)
I went into the day nervous about where I stood. I'm ending it feeling like this second malignant mutation might actually be one of the luckiest things that has happened to me in years. I'm going to go to bed early and rest soooo easy.
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