ENDO SUPPORT FORUM : Two week update

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If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend,
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Two week update

Posted by Kristy on 8/25/2007, 2:32 am

Hi all,
These past two weeks have been absolutely nuts. My mom is still trying to make a decision (getting sick and tired of people trying to push her to make a decision when breast cancer is one of the slowest growing breast cancers out there). She did see the 3rd surgeon on the 6th and the visit went pretty well. He answered our questions well and when I asked him how many of these he had done he told me (was nervous at what he might say after I asked but oh well we had a right to know).
Well, after the visit was over we headed to do some other business even though I must say she almost went ahead with the surgery. They had scheduled it super fast (which was not a good sign and not enough time to prepare for meals that we need to have here at home so we don't have to worry much about cooking for at least a week or two afterward).
That Wed which was the 8th we got her date which is how we knew that the date was for the 14th. Well, I have to tell you ladies we let all common sense go out the window about going with this doctor. Also, I had to tell my mom that I would not cancel an appt I had with one of my doctors on the 16th (don't worry, I would have had a friend take me which is why I said no) because I knew there was a way to get to it even with her having surgery. But the common sense that went out the window was that of going with a doctor at a hospital that respects our religious beliefs when it comes to how we get treated medically in emergency situations such as with surgical procedures.
I finally had to remind her again (because it bothered me Wed nite a bit during our meeting for worship that night and also when I went to bed) why we were recommended to go to this particular hospital. We argued a bit (yes, the stress of the issue but still). Then I went back to my bed. After about an hour or so she called them to tell them that she had to cancel. They tried to tell us that the date couldn't be changed (which is another reason she couldn't do the surgery on the 14th, we had other commitments that couldn't wait or be changed). They tried to tell us that there would have to be a very good reason for the surgery date to be changed or cancelled. Then we found out the doctor did something he shouldn't have. Tried to make this surgery an urgent situation which it was not. We found this out because the girl at this doctor's office said that he had to break through a lot of barriers to get this surgery approved so quickly (which can take weeks for surgery to be approved depending on the situation). This doctor tried to make it like an emergency situation which as I said it's not.
And with breast cancer even though the patient cares (yes including my mom) that doesn't mean you have to do the surgery immediately (as in within the next few weeks or so).
And mom also told the doctor's office (which this is also true) that she was scared and that's understandable. So no surgery yet.
Well, in the mean time we went to see another doctor, a pathologist who is quite knowledgeable about breast cancer. You are thinking, "pathologists don't see patients". Well, that is true most of them don't do that but this one does. We saw this doctor about a week ago and she was really good. We had the biopsy slides and she looked at them while we talked. We got to see the slides too and that was really something to see, that it was indeed breast cancer. Just didn't have the slides with the special stain that said what kind of cancer it was (lobular or ductal). So I hope maybe we can get them and go back to her and have look at those too to see if she agrees with the finding for the particular kind of cancer it is.
So as of right now I'm going to try to find another surgeon (to have the name ready) at one of the other campuses of this one hospital to see if there's a chance we can get mom to a different doctor than the one she's going to go back to consult again (the second surgeon she saw).
So right now that's where things stand with her, still trying to make a decision but will soon.
Now for me, I saw my doctor on the 7th and she did see some of the bleeding which was just spotting at this point (yep, I chose not to do what the girl suggested when she asked about doubling up my birth control pills because I knew what would happen if I did). So we decided to do a sonohysterogram. It's a special kind of sonogram where they go inside the uterus with a catheter and fill the uterus with saline to get a good look at the inside of the uterus. It is done to check the lining further. We are doing this to see if I might have what they call an endometrial polyp which is a kind of polyp that grows on the uterine lining.
We are also doing this because I've had issues with polyps in the past. I had one removed in 1999. Yes it was benign but still.
So I'm supposed to have this test done on Mon if all goes ok. The reason that I say this is because last weekend when going to the bathroom I noticed some greenish coloring globs with my vaginal discharge and I know from years past that for me it means a Strep B infection (even though in most cases it means STDs for people). Well, then I started to notice that my discharge also had some bright yellow coloring come in to play about 2 days after that. The good thing about the green part of the discharge was not coming every single day.
My doctor looked inside and saw a bit of discharge which indicates that I had at least a yeast infection going on. So she gave me a script for Diflucan to take which I took later that evening. She also did some cultures to make sure I don't have a bacterial infection going on. She said as long as it's just yeast we can proceed with the test but if bacterial shows up as well (and I've had both kind of infections happen at the same time before) then we have to postpone the test for a time. Hopefully that will not happen.
I really need to have this test done because although that bleeding episode stopped about 2 days after the visit with the doctor on the 7th I know something is going on because I cramped for two days afterward. And on and off since then. If that isn't bad enough when I saw the doctor on Tues (the 21st, because of my call that Mon and the doctor telling the girl to tell me to come in the next day) and came home I spotted for two days after the exam and culture taking which I've never done before.
The other thing Mon is that after my test we are going to meet up with a friend that we haven't seen in about 15 years because she has been through the area, including going up to see one of her daughters that lives in the Atlanta area (which is 6 hours north of me). We are going to meet up for dinner.
So we shall see how all of this goes. But other than that mom and I are both hanging in there. I will try to write again soon.
Kristy