I have put my seatbelt on. Got my helmet on. Gameface? You know it. (just in case...)
Today I saw my primary care physician, Dr. Patrick Jolin. I saw him today because I noticed my left breast didn't feel exactly right. [go ahead and laugh..."left didn't feel right" heeheehee] What I mean to say is that it didn't feel normal.
You see, some days my cat, Li'l Katie (or Katie 2.0), is so happy to see me when I get home from work at the optometrist's office that she can't help but climb up on me to get petted. If I happen to have my iPad in front of me, she is even more likely to climb up directly in between my face and my iPad. Recently, I was on my back the floor checking in with my mother-in-law via FaceTime and along comes Li'l Katie...walking all over me eventually pawing her way across my chest. One of her paws hit me right square on the nipple of my left breast (the breast that had cancer back in 2005). This smarted! Yowch! I removed her from my person immediately, of course, with a few harsh words. But a couple of hours later I realized my left breast was still a bit tender. Weird...shouldn't still be hurting, right? Hmmm, I thought. So then the next day I was aware that my breast was a teeny bit sore still so I made an appointment to see Dr. Jolin for a clinical breast exam.
I called Dr. Jolin's office and he was able to get me in today = awesome. I described to him what I think happened and I showed him where in my breast I thought I felt a little something that might be a lump. He felt around, but we agree that we didn't feel an actual lump but what would be better described as a "thickening", which was one of the descriptors on the form he completed to request a diagnostic mammogram for me.
Dr. Jolin is very nice. He is my husband's doctor, too. He became my doctor when my previous primary care doctor sent me a letter advising me that she is closing her practice to work strictly with the hospital, and telling me that I need to look for another doctor. Nice. So, time passed - probably two years - and I had not yet found a primary care physician, but I needed knee replacement surgery. In order to have the surgery, I would have to have my regular doctor clear me for my knee replacement surgery, so when the orthopedic surgeon's admininistrative staff asked me who will sign off I asked them to send it to Dr. Jolin. Heehee! He called me shortly after receiving several faxes from my surgeon's office - I was so embarrassed! I apologized and told him I had been meaning to call to set up an initial appointment. Isn't that nuts? Anyway, the point is, he is very nice, and a cancer survivor, himself. I think he is a 5 year survivor at this point.
So Dr. Jolin wrote a referral for me to get a diagnostic mammogram which is a mammogram plus an ultrasound. I called and made the appointment as soon as I got to my car in the parking lot. I will give you an update on that when I get it done.
Cheers!
