Diagnosis Day 6-24-09

It was alot of things that led to us finding the cancer, but it really comes down to a Dove Chocolate given to me by Charlie Russell. I'd been having shortness of breath and chest congestion for about six weeks which had been getting progressively worse. By the afternoon of the 24th, I thought I might be having a heart attack. I googled "heart attack in women" and found that I had a few of the symptoms. I was thinking, if I die of a heart attack I am going to be looking down from heaven and saying, you dummy, there was an ER just down the hall! I kept thinking about that chocolate given to me by Charlie earlier in the day with the message "Follow your instincts". So I headed over to the ER and figured if I felt better when I got there, I would just go back to my office.



Well, I didn't feel better, and my dear friend Cindi Warburton came out to help with triage and I told her what was happening and she took me right back. Dr. Ethan Bachrach was my doctor that fateful day and took wonderful care of me. It became evident I was not having a heart attack, so they decided to do a chest xray. That told the story. Dr. Bachrach came back in before too long after to tell me that my labored breathing was caused by "mets" on my lungs. It appeared that the cancer was back and had metastacized to my lung. What a shock.



He was quickly on the phone with my oncologist, Dr. Tom Rado, who told me later that he about fell off his chair when he saw the xray. He ordered a CT Scan to make sure it hadn't spread beyond my lungs and we were happy to find out that it was not in my liver or bones! Dr. Bachrach did all he could do and sent me on my way where I promptly headed to Bookwalter. I have my priorities you know. Following the winery, I hit Dairy Queen. A peanut buster parfait was just what the doctor ordered!



I spoke with Dr. Rado that evening and he had already looked at my films with Dr. Iuliano and they had scheduled my biopsy for the following morning.



I was so greatful for my friends at Kadlec for stepping up to help me at such short notice and to Tina for being "mom" for me at Peyton's pre-op that day for her tonsilectomy and most of all to my rock and hero Mike for being there to hold my hand at a moments notice. I don't think I would have made it through the day without him.