Biopsy
My life had been changed forever! Even though the biopsy hadn't yet been taken, and nothing had been confirmed, I knew by the way Claudia looked at me and the images on her screen. We both knew.
I cried a lot that day. However, I kept returning to the feeling that this isn't really happening to me. Deny! Deny! Deny! But one night, I went to pray with my kids and I knew I had to be strong and I had to approach this in a very methodical way. I had to cope for myself and my family. I am a strong and independent woman!
“I am a strong and independent woman! “
So I picked myself up and prepared myself for my biopsy. The biopsy starts with a little local anesthesia. The radiologist comes into the room and she begins to explain to me the procedure. That she and her assistant will be taking a biopsy using an ultrasound and placing a metal clip to act as a maker. It will all be done under local anesthesia and it should not hurt. I might feel some pressure and pushing. I always tell my patients when I am injecting local anesthesia that it will only be a "little stick and burn". I was so nervous and YES it is more than just a "little stick and burn." The local did burn for a few seconds, and I didn't feel a thing. However, the biopsy gun makes such a loud noise when its fires that I almost jumped off the bed because I was shocked. They then took me back to confirm placement of the metal clips with another mammogram. After, I finally meet my husband and we quietly drove home and the waiting game started.
Then I had to return to work in the operating room the next day sore from the biopsy and acting like everything was normal. When I had this huge burden hanging over me. I had not told any of my colleagues except for one who said, "I sure you have nothing to worry about. You are too young." Even though I knew from the images from the mammogram it was cancer, I waited and hoped it would tell me something different’
They told me that I would have to wait about a week for the results because the specimen had to be sent to the lab and pathology had to process. But the news arrived one day, after working all night in the operating room, and I was picking up some groceries. The phone rang and it was my primary care physician. My heart fell into my stomach. She confirmed what we had suspected and that yes I had cancer. I remember carefully putting the milk in grocery basket and thinking “Did I get the snacks for the kids lunch tomorrow and …oh shit, I have cancer!”
Dr. Heather Colmenter The medical doctor who became a patient. She is an Anesthesiologist affiliated with multiple hospitals in the Houston area, including Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center and CHI St. Luke's Health-Patients Medical Center.