Day 4

Tuesday, March 15, 2013. I'm forwarding my mail to the hospital. Today I had an MRI simulation, a meeting with the genetic counselor and a meeting scheduled with the social worker. I was also scheduled for four more appointments Thursday (starting at 7am and ending at 3pm) in addition to the two I have tomorrow, and the one (so far) I have Friday.

Today's MRI simulation started 40 minutes late, but we got it done and the good news is, I can have an MRI on Thursday. The technicians had to see if I could withstand lying on my stomach for half an hour with my arms above my head. It's not comfortable, and not something I would do on a regular basis, but I'm willing to push myself into a zen-like trance if necessary to get through the discomfort if it means more information toward my overall diagnosis. I'll deal with the slight dizziness from laying with my face down, and the fact that my arms are nearly asleep after being above my head the entire time to get a good result. The genetic counselor was really good. Taking a family history, I have no cancer in my immediate family (mom, dad, siblings), but do have some cancer in my grandparents, their siblings, and their siblings children. Topic of discussion was the BRCA test. After consideration, I decided to start the process. It's a simple blood draw and results can be received in two-three weeks. Let me state now that I did not decide to go through with the BRCA test because Angelina Jolie publicly admitted to having a double mastectomy after her BRCA test identified she carried the BRCA1 gene. However, I think it's fantastic and amazing that she was able to pull off a double mastectomy in February and reconstructive surgery in April without the public knowing - Bravo to the medical community who treated her and kept her secret (regardless of HIPPA as she is a celebrity and they have so little privacy), and the paparazzi who left her the hell alone during her procedure. The meeting with the genetic counselor took so long that we once again had to reschedule the meeting with the social worker. Maybe tomorrow it will actually happen!