The Diagnosis.....

Thurs June 11

I will always remember this date.

In radiology, they said it could take up to 3 business days to get the pathology report.... but that it was likely to be available by Friday, end of day. I called my doctor to give him my cell phone number and found out that he was gone until Monday. What? I can only get the path results from my doctor and he was gone on a long weekend? The overworked nurse for his backup Dr didn't seem too interested in helping me get my path results either - Boy was I steamed. I was beside myself!

A little voice inside said " get to the inside.... "

The biopsy triggered an extremely painful lymph node response so I called radiology to report that and just verify that it was normal. The radiology folks definitely did not think this was normal and so booked an appt for me that afternoon with whichever doctor had an opening to squeeze me in.

I arrived at my appointment and, luckily, was assigned to an extremely compassionate Dr. (I will likely switch to her since she was so kind and helpful) I started to describe my symptoms and she sat down and in the kindest voice ever asked....."Have you seen the pathology report yet?"

Shocked, I said no, nobody told me it was ready. She went to the computer, opened the file for me , and stepped back so I could read it. I burst into tears.... I had suspected this was coming but it was so final, so real, and so lifechanging to read the diagnosis from the pathology report:

INFILTRATING LOBULAR CARCINOMA

Oh Crap!Oh Crap!Oh Crap!

The Dr was so kind - she immediately ordered an appt with the breast cancer center intake nurse for friday and put in an order so that I could meet with the breast cancer surgeon ASAP. I was officially entering the treatment tunnel.