Breast lump concerns and musings

[Carys]

Hiyer, thanks for the update. I think you are doing brilliantly. I am waiting on mammo results from not last Friday, but the one before, and they say you could hear anywhere up to 4 weeks after the mammo. Its a horrible wait, and I feel for you as experience it myself. In my case, every day waiting for the post. When is the surgeon appt ?

[MJunderway]

Thank you for your reply! I don't think I realized that you were waiting for mammo results as well. Sending positive and anti-anxiety vibes your way!

My follow up appt is on 6/14. I told myself that I would wait but I broke under pressure from my anxiety this afternoon and left a voice message to see if I could move my appt up sooner. Looking back, I realize it was my way of trying to game the outcome, which is just me waiting until the appointment to get results. But I was afraid that they would call with scary news and call me in sooner and I didn't want to have to deal with that so I wanted to control things by beating them to the punch.

My anxiety has been pretty bad, mostly from shifting hormones. I'm doing work- mindfullness/cbt/therapy but these perimenopausal hormones are kicking me in the butt. I've embraced the idea a while back that I can see this peri time as a way to heal from long-term anxiety and that my body and mind are just giving me subtle or sometimes intensely direct hints. I just came to the understanding recently that I need to commit to the healing/change process more than I have been.

I'm going to share with the breast surgeon that while I am doing much to help with my anxiety, these follow up appts are just so rough on me, mentally and physically. I'd like to see if we can come to an understanding of how to handle these moving forward (like not trying to magically read into tech or nurse's facial expressions or automated questions) or discuss other options for dealing with this. In the meantime, I will wait.

I went for a walk with my husband and son this evening and it definitely helped me to calm down. So does checking this site (in moderation). I hope you are finding ways to relax as well!

[ErinKC]

I'm going to share with the breast surgeon that while I am doing much to help with my anxiety, these follow up appts are just so rough on me, mentally and physically. I'd like to see if we can come to an understanding of how to handle these moving forward (like not trying to magically read into tech or nurse's facial expressions or automated questions) or discuss other options for dealing with this. In the meantime, I will wait.

This is a good idea! It's so important to advocate for ourselves, and I think with anxiety being clear with the doctor about what can help make some of these necessary situations a bit less burdensome is such an important thing to do.

[MJunderway]

Update: No one responded to the weird and vague voicemail I left for the office of the breast surgeon to move up my appt from 6/14. It wasn't an issue and I 100% saw it as controlling behavior on my part but at least I'm recognizing that kind of behavior when it comes up. On Tuesday, I got a letter saying that my ultrasound appeared normal and to resume with my annual mammos.

I still have my appt for the 14th and will ask my breast surgeon to find a way to better deal with these reoccurring appts as I find them to be extremely destabilizing (my health anxiety is the result of a very bad medical trauma at a very young age). I'm working very hard to better deal with my anxiety but HA is my biggest challenge. These appointments don't just trigger my own health fears, I also find myself becoming caught up in fears about my family's health.

Just wanted to share with everyone. Thank you for your ongoing support! I'll post again after I have my appt.

[Carys]

Hiyer, glad all was well with your results. I'm still waiting on mine, its been three weeks now and they say it can take up to 4 weeks for them to arrive. Sadly I have no choice regarding finding away to avoid the (yearly) anxiety, so if you and your surgeon can find a way to resolve it then good for you. I think its cruel making people wait as long as we have to here sometimes, and same day results would be the way to go!

[MJunderway]

Hiyer, glad all was well with your results. I'm still waiting on mine, its been three weeks now and they say it can take up to 4 weeks for them to arrive. Sadly I have no choice regarding finding away to avoid the (yearly) anxiety, so if you and your surgeon can find a way to resolve it then good for you. I think its cruel making people wait as long as we have to here sometimes, and same day results would be the way to go!

Hi!

So, I have no plans to avoid annual mammos and whatnot. I learned my lesson the hard way when I tried to avoid them. I just want to find a way to have better communication around all of this. I stay with this practice because I love my gyn NP and am beginning to trust the breast surgeon. They are a small clinic and operate on timeworn processes and procedures. There's a super updated hospital in my area that offers same day test results but I don't know any of the practitioners there so I'm not interested in transferring at this time. I just wish that there was an overall greater interest in the patient's mental wellbeing as much as their physical wellbeing.

I feel for you having to wait that long to get your results. In this day and age, why should it take that long? In the US there's the potential to save and make so much $$ from better medical communications. Though our system is so screwed that I don't ever see it happening on a large scale.

Hope you hear from your results soon!

[Carys]

Well, got my 'all clear' results eventually ! After waiting 4 painful weeks and hearing nothing I used the number to ring after 4 weeks. Yes.....they had done the viewing and review of the images, but no letters yet sent out. Arrrghhhh