6/7/22

It's Tuesday.  I ended up sleeping in the recliner for 3 nights and the last night wasn't half bad.  I'm back in my own bed now, tho, and it's delightful.  My gout isn't gone and I called the doctor.  She called in something else, but they're having issues with my insurance company, so this is day two with it waiting at the pharmacy to be filled.  No drugs again today.  Maybe tomorrow.....  I went to the hospital today for a bilateral breast MRI.  I've had MRI's before, but never this kind.  What a contraption.  Medieval torture device, is more like it.  Gads.  And I thought the radiation treatment table was bad.  They had me tied down, upside down, like a hog.  Well, it felt like it, anyway.  Plus, they were running late and I waited 2 hours for the thing to actually begin.  I was sooo tired sitting in the waiting room, and sooo glad I didn't let David take me.  That would have been horrible for him.  Those lovely robes they give you are great for women that are more like a size 5.  Who orders these?!?  Who is in charge?  Must be someone around 24 years old, who doesn't visit their grandma often enough.  I'm sorry, but my tolerance for idiots was extremely low today.  I thought I had an immunity built up, but there must be a new strain out there.  At least they are warmed in their special 'oven' before they pass them out.  Now, getting from the dressing room to the MRI room is a different story.  It's not like the breast center.  Nooooo, both sexes use the dressing rooms and walk down the same hallway to the treatment rooms.  So, visualize this, if you will:  I'm trying to hold my robe together in the front because I'm naked from the waist up.  The belt that goes with the robe is quite short and there are two sets of loops that it's supposed to go through.  One set is high, and the other higher.  After careful consideration, and several missed attempts at zeroing in on the loops, I chose the lowest 'high' and it felt like the belt was just below my boobs.  Oh, well, this wasn't a fashion contest, that's for sure.  If it were down a bit closer to my waist, perhaps I could actually tie the belt into a bow, or something.  Now, I'm supposed to wait in the dressing room with the door open until the tech comes to get me.  So, of course, every Tom, Dick and Harry that walks by, takes a peek in.  I'm just that interesting.  When she comes to fetch me, I walk down the hall like I'm on parade, using both hands to try and keep myself covered.  There are guys sitting in the hallway all the way down to my room.  It was great.

I got the results of the MRI within a few hours.  That was wonderful.  I had them send the report down to MD Anderson.  I spoke with the surgeon today and she agreed that my local oncologist could examine me in 2 weeks when I see her and she could send that report down to Houston, also.  Since I had an MRI today, she was happy, too.  I will go back to Houston in December for an exam, mammogram, and ultrasound.  So, I will not be going to Houston this week.  Hooray!

The report was pretty good, too.  I have a lot of scar tissue and radiation damage on the left side, but no evidence of cancer.  The right side still shows a 6 mm nodule that doesn't appear to have grown since my last exam.  They are not going to biopsy that one since it appears to be stable.  This MRI doesn't look at the lymph nodes, or lungs, unfortunately, so we'll just have to choose them to be exceptional at this point.  I will know more at my next oncology appointment in 2 weeks. 

We are still planning on going camping at the lake next week, so this is good news for a 'vacation sendoff'.  No worries.

I set my GPS to get me to the right place this morning for my appointment.  That didn't work out very well.  The GPS lady blurted out, "You have reached your final destination", just as I passed the cemetery.  Bitch.