MRI #1- Results

The day after my first breast MRI, I called my doctor's office to find out if she had received the results yet. Unfortunately my doctor wasn't in; "The results are probably sitting on her desk but she won't be in today."

Me- "Okay. So I shouldn't expect to hear anything until tomorrow?"

Receptionist- "No."

Alright. Expectations reset.

About an hour later, I received a surprising voicemail from the doctor's office, "The doctor actually wants you to come in to discuss these results with you."

Jesus. I thought I wasn't supposed to get any news until tomorrow. Now she's calling me. And she wants me to come in?

Ugh.

My heart sank and a knot in my stomach instantly formed.

Fuck.

I tried hard to not rush to conclusions. But hell. That's way easier said than done.

I called back and set up an appointment for lunchtime the next day.

To recap:
MRI- bright and early Monday morning (3/12)
call from doctor saying they want me to come in Tuesday afternoon (3/13)
doctor's appointment scheduled for lunchtime on Wednesday (3/14)

Before I hung up the phone I said "Is there anything you can tell me about the results?"
I was placed on hold for a few minutes and then the receptionist came back on the line and said "Your breast results are normal. Something else showed up that the doctor wants to talk with you about." She led on that it wasn't anything that major. And since I was going to see my breast oncologist the following Monday, I opted to not go in the next day, and wait to speak with the breast oncologist.

In the meantime, because my breast oncologist is not at UCLA, I had to get a copy of the MRI images and the report. So even though I didn't have a doctor's appointment anymore, I was able to see what was causing the suspicion when I picked up the report. Here's what was on it: 6.0 x 4.4 cm fluid signal in the region of the right lung base adjacent to the pericardium may represent a pericardial cyst or pleural effusion. Chest radiograph is recommended for further evaluation.

Once I saw this, I decided to go back in and see the regular (UCLA) doctor on Thursday (3/15).

So on Thursday morning off I went to speak with Dr. Gorwara. We both felt that since I've been sick and have been presenting bronchitis type symptoms, that's what likely showed up on the report. But to rule anything out, off I went to the outpatient facility to get an chest x-ray.

The chest x-ray, was very quick and painless. Between the first doctor's appointment, then the short car ride to the other side of town, the chest x-ray and the short drive back home, I was back home and working within an hour. Which far exceeded any expectations that I had.

Now I wait to find out what shows up on the chest x-ray.

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MRI #1

On Monday I had my first breast MRI since discovering I am a BRCA2 gene carrier.

I had checked in with a few people before getting this done and was given practical and funny advice on what to expect. My favorite was from someone who's been dealing with this for the past six years and said, "It’s the closest thing I can imagine to being in a spaceship."

Despite getting myself mentally prepared by talking with a few "experts", I was completely unprepared for the noise. And someone probably told me it was loud, but it didn't stick, and so I was surprised when I finally got all settled in for the MRI and was jarred and stunned by the intensity (and annoyance) of the noise.

I showed up at 745am to fill out paperwork for my 8am appointment and was brought back to change and get started at the time my appointment was scheduled to begin. As if that weren't enough, I had a wonderful technician who prepped me for the MRI and walked me through what she'd be doing. She put me at ease and made me feel very comfortable through an uncomfortable process.

After being all settled in, I was given the choice of listening to classical music or oldies. I went with oldies because they reminded me of my dad, and classical music is so not my thing. And off I went.

The duration of the tests were 15 seconds, 1 1/2 minutes, 4 minutes and then the longest and last one was for 8 minutes. 2 minutes into the last test, it was stopped so they could do the contrast (which feels super weird, by the way). They had to put an IV in my hand, so when they released the contrast, it felt like liquid was being poured all over my hand. (It wasn't).

I got up and felt a little woozy. On top of being in a weird position for nearly 35 minutes (there's a lot of down time between tests), I've been sick again with some weird cold. But more than anything, I was grateful for having survived my first breast MRI.

Upon leaving, I definitely felt like this was something I could absolutely handle once a year.

Next up: Results

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MRI & Mammogram Scheduled

It's kind of crazy how long I've been waiting for the first day of my cycle to arrive. I've never been someone who has tracked this information every month. Just haven't ever really needed to before. But now that my first MRI and mammogram are dependent upon it, I've been anxious and antsy. Because 7-10 days after the start, I need to be getting my first MRI and mammogram.

On Monday I was able to call Beverly Hills Imaging and schedule my appointments and can now report that I will be getting my first mammogram on Friday, followed by my first MRI on Saturday. Not exactly how I was hoping to spend my weekend, but, it'll be good to put these firsts behind me.

Right this very second, I don't have anxiety about this. I've been super busy with work. I'm actually writing this from Salt Lake City where I've been since Monday for a conference. On top of travel time and networking time, I've spent all day in a conference and practically all night doing my regular job. So yeah. Right now. I'm okay with the upcoming tests. Come Friday, I'm sure I'll be anxious, distracted and nervous.

When I first saw Dr. Waisman, I scheduled a follow-up appointment for September 19th. But I had to push this appointment back to accommodate turnaround time for the images/scans to get back to the doctor. So when I see Dr. Waisman on September 26th, I should know how everything looks.

I know waiting 10 days between the appointments will be torture, so I will call Dr. Waisman's office to find out if I'll hear anything sooner of if I have to painfully wait that long to know that everything is okay, or god forbid, not.

I did already ask the imaging place to check and see how much of this will be covered by insurance so I'm not totally shocked when I arrive on Friday/Saturday. But I'm expecting to get ripped off again. At least I won't be blindsided if that happens!

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