I Will Sign That Chair

Part two

I was greeted by a nice, upbeat doctor who seemed to have all of the answers to the questions that my sister had. How did she know what to ask and I had no clue?

Dr. Singh examined me, told me I was a tough lady and to bring my A game to the fight. He has called me New York since that day. I danced my way into the ring!

He made requisite appointments for various scans and tests for the following week.

My first appointment was with a breast surgeon who I adored upon meeting. She was at the front desk when I walked in kibitzing with the staff and patients.

She did a breast exam and wanted further tests. I asked her if she thought I could get away with a lumpectomy and at this point, she wasn't sure if lymph node involvement was involved as well. I later found out that I had a tumor attached to my chest wall and a mastectomy was eminent.

She further explained that I was er+pr+and herceptin-, how big the tumor was, etc.

My sister was taking notes, and mentally, I was writing my own note, Dear Rosetta Stone, help!, I need a quick course in cancer speak!

She made appointments for me to get a PET scan, and other tests to make sure it was contained and had not spread.The PET scan is a scan that shows how your organs and tissues are working.

In body I was there, in mind, I was thinking, how am I going to get through this and in spirit, the bargaining with the Gods began. Please, if I make it through this, I promise I won't eat a whole cake everyday and many more!

When I was checking out, a woman from the back came up to me and asked me if I was Ahkanazi. (Jewish), I looked at my sister and asked, "am I"? I was so out of it the first few weeks. My sister told her I was and I asked her if my angelic looks gave it away.

Well, she explained, you should be tested for the BRCA gene, it is very previlant in the Jewish community. The BRCA blood test uses DNA analysis to identify the two breast cancer susceptibility genes. Breast and ovarian cancer.

How much longer until my table arrives was all I could think about at that moment.

I then spotted a chair with writing on it, I asked what it was and was told that when you hit your ten year anniversary of being in remission, you get to sign it, I looked at that chair and said, I will not only sign you, but I will plop on you!

I was told I needed to get a port put in soon so I could begin chemotherapy. At this point, I had no clue what a port was, chemotherapy, BRCA, or anything else that was being told to me. It was a lot to digest at one time.

On the day I had my PET scan, I was injected with radioactive dye and was told that I could not be around kids for 24 hours. "Really", I said to the technician, "there's an upside to cancer?"

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