YABCB - A Plan

Ben and I went to see the surgeon this morning (Wed). We liked him. He concurred that it is early and treatable, and that it is pretty common, which is somehow comforting. He explained the cancer and the surgery clearly and simply. He actually used the word "algorithm" when discussing the mastectomy/lumpectomy options, we liked that. :-) I opted for the lumpectomy + radiation, just in case there are residual cells they didn't get. It is already scheduled, for next Wed, I don't even have to spend the night in the hospital, all outpatient, I'll be out with general anesthesia for only about 45 minutes. They first inject something to check the lymph nodes, which they then sample while they've got you under. I have an appt with an oncologist on Monday, who I'll also meet with a week or so after the surgery. At this point, it feels good to have a plan and that it could be over in a week (mostly).

Ironic, given the current health care debate, that while we were there, I had to fill out numerous pieces of paper with the same information, and the staff were trying to use the hospital's computer system to access data, and having trouble. I decided I needed to spend my sabbatical working with stimulus money on health care information systems. Our vet is way more up-to-date - they carry around laptops to enter, store, and retrieve all the information.