Phone call from a new friend

I had gotten the name and number of a woman who just had a mastectomy from a co-worker. She was seen at Swedish and we thought she had surgery done by the surgeon at Swedish I've been referred to. It turns out that she (Beth) had her surgery by a different surgeon, but she was still great to talk to.

Beth told me to just breathe and be patient, even though I'm feeling so overwhelmed by everything. She said there is no point in seeing an oncologist until after I have surgery, which makes sense to me. All the oncologist can tell me at this point are potentials and options and possibilities. I don't want to hear any of that stuff. I want to have my surgery, find out if the cancer has spread, and come up with a plan. Beth also said to definitely get the MRI. It's important and probably the surgeon at Swedish won't see me without it. So, I think I will call the surgeon I saw today and see if I can get that set up. Actually, I'm going to email my family doc, who is on vacation until Wednesday to see if she should set it up or if the surgeon should. I'm also going to call Swedish tomorrow and just verify all of that. If the surgeon in Seattle wants an MRI as well, I don't see the point of seeing her until I have that.

Another thing she mentioned was a test called Oncotype. It's for women with breast cancer with a negative node biopsy and positive estrogen receptors. I have the positive receptors, so I'm halfway there. The test can predict the chance of recurrence as low, medium or high. Low is 7-8% chance of recurrence. That's what Beth has, so she doesn't have to get radiation or chemo. Even though I don't know if I qualify for the test, I am going to call them tomorrow. I want to find out if my new insurance will cover the testing.

We talked a lot about sleeping. I have been really surprised this week at how easy it is for me to sleep. I don't sleep that well anyway, but I've pretty much slept through the night the past 3 nights. Beth is the same way. It's a coping mechanism for the stress.

Speaking of sleeping, I need to get some. It's nice to know I have someone else to add to my list who has been down the road I'm about to go down and who I can call with any questions or if I need to express my frustration and upsetedness to someone who knows what I'm going through.