The Mayo Appointment
The Mayo. Was. Crazy.
It’s like an airport, seriously. And so many damn people. I can network in a room full of LMA people but put me with a bunch of strangers with different agendas, and I go into a bit of a panic.
My “mom friend” (LOL) Erica came with me. ? We drove down Sunday evening so we didn’t have to go down to Rochester in the morning, which is a 2-ish-hour drive from where we live. Stayed at a newish hotel downtown, but upon checking in, two armed police officers who came right up behind us asked for the keys to the 7th floor. They were armed head to toe in riot gear. I can only imagine my face mirrored Erica’s – can’t say that’s happened before. So weird. We then asked if we were on the 7th floor (we weren’t). ?
We found an awesome Italian place about two doors down. We stuffed our faces with food – not wine. That ended up being crappy. ? (We usually end up with wine that we love or hate)
Appointment was at 8, but we waited for about 30 minutes to get called in. Height and weight and then do the room, where an intake nurse is already in the room. She asks you about meds and takes your blood pressure. Then another nurse comes in (they have a name – I have a sheet of paper with all the people!) to talk to you about your diagnosis. Some old-school but decent videos that explained what “invasive” and “ductal” mean. How clinical staging is done (based on different factors like tumor size and to what areas it’s spread, like the lymph nodes). Gave us a handy binder with MORE information on cancers and treatments.
Then a surgeon came in – Mayo apparently does this where the folks in the breast center rotate to get context – to talk to me more about options and surgery. Then an internal medicine doc joins her, and we go over the treatment plan.
The surgeon explained that, most likely, they agree with 95% of the diagnosis I have from Mercy. They do differ in a few ways, though.
Mayo suggested a few other tests:
- Lymph node biopsy. So they’d go through the armpit. The doctor said to make sure that if we did that up here to include a marker so they know.
- Punch biopsy on the skin in the same area. If the cancer cells impact the skin, it’s an automatic mastecomy vs a lumpectomy.
- Echocardiogram. The two cancer drugs I’ll be taking can do damage to the heart.
The skin anatomy wasn’t found by Mercy (yet, anyway). They also found a calcium deposit that would come into play during a lumpectomy. But it’s pretty likely it’ll be a mastectomy regardless.
The Decisions
Goddamn, are there a ton of things you have to decide upon.
I’ve mostly decided I’ll do chemo up here so I don’t have to drive down to the Mayo on a regular basis. It’s not far but the drive is MIND-NUMBING. The Mayo does that kind of thing often – split treatment. There are two reasons why I want to go to Mayo for some things:
- Surgery. They have a radiologist on hand during the surgery so they can biopsy suspicious areas, which could mean fewer operations.
- Radiation. Not 100% this is on the list yet. This usually goes along with cancerous lymph nodes in the breast. The doctor explained that the radiation they use is less likely to impact other organs than normal radiation. She said because I’m on the younger side, this would make a difference as I age.
Next Steps
Tomorrow I meet with the oncologist at Piper Breast Center (up here) to finalize the chemo treatment. I’ll have Mayo grab that information so they can check it’s what they were recommending.
Mayo automatically puts you on their calendar – so I have that skin-punch biopsy tomorrow in Rochester that I need to schedule. I’m hoping to add that to the full-day appointment at Mayo that’s set right now for September 28th. I sorta know what’s going on in that appointment but TBH at this point, my eyes are glazing over. That should move around like today’s appointment. The only thing I need to get done before I start chemo is the echocardiogram. The rest can happen before surgery.
Where is my mind?*
*Please note this is a Pixies reference. ?
So here’s something you might not know about me – I hate not sleeping at home. I hated sleepovers as a kid (though there might be other reasons why that was ?). It took me a bit to get used to traveling, and even then, if I’m not busy doing something, I get panic-attack anxiety territory. And there are only certain people I like sharing a room or stay with. It’s why I always arrive 3 hours early at the airport. 😉
So between the long drive, nervousness, and just being in a place like Mayo, I was ready to high-tail it outta there. Then the long, boring a** drive home. ? We may have stopped for some plants and pasta (not at the same place).
Having someone with me – who knows me well – was really helpful in easing anxiety and making decisions. More tests make me nervous – especially in my armpit! Ugh. I feel like I need to prepare for it. ? I haven’t googled an echocardiogram, but I don’t think that’s invasive.
Chemo is right around the corner. Shit is getting real. There’s anxiety that comes with the unknown, especially physical pain.
And I’m prepping for no reconstruction. I’ve yet to hear of a reconstruction that hasn’t had some sort of complication or problem, and I just want to be over with this when it’s over. To be honest, it doesn’t bother me a bit to not have them – it? lol Single-boobing it would be kinda funny, but I may want to do a double anyway based on family history. I’ll still talk to the plastic surgeon just to have all my options, but for now, that’s where I’m leaning.
