Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Biopsies

Ms. Ché had a biopsy on Monday and is scheduled for another one next Monday. It's unexpected and we're on tenterhooks until we get results -- whenever that will be.

My own sense is that it's just a precaution as there is no history of cancer in her family. But unfortunately these days you never know.

At any rate, the tests themselves require some lifestyle changes, and until we become acclimated to them, we'll be at a disadvantage regarding our other activities. She will be indisposed for a while, and I'll be looking after her as best I can.



8 comments:

  1. Best wishes. I hope your sense is right, but it's scary regardless. I hope for the best.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've been reading you for a couple years and never said hi until now. My thoughts are with you and the miz.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, awful. The word biopsy sounds so benign, but the actual procedure can be, and is usually, quite surgical. Ugh. I hope the best for both of you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for your kind words. We're dealing with the situation day by day, and I'm pretty confident she won't have a negative diagnosis. On the other hand, the procedures themselves aren't a lot of fun. Yeek.



    ReplyDelete
  5. Che,

    My thoughts are with you both. It is quite stressful and frightening, not only to undergo the tests, but waiting for the results.

    I had a benign brain tumor removed in August - just a couple of weeks ago - after a year of being told it was "migraines". Damn thing was the size of a baseball. Some migraine.

    I hope your wife has good doctors, who also have empathy and human kindness.

    Namaste,
    Teri

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my, Teri! What a horrible thing, tumor the size of a baseball on your brain? The mind boggles. I trust your "migraines" are now relieved? Let's hope so. Would have been nice if they caught that thing earlier, tho, eh?

    Thanks for your kind thoughts. Ms is doing well. First results came back "normal." We'll see what comes up next week after the next biopsy. So far, according to herself, the doctoring has been excellent.

    Take it easy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, yes, the headaches are gone. I am lucky to have relatively few after-effects from the tumor. Some weakness in my left arm and blurriness of vision and assorted other little goodies, but physical therapy seems to be working very quickly to bring things back for me. (Except the vision - we'll have to wait and see about that, which is a reaction to the steroid they had to use to shrink the thing before they could remove it.)

      The saddest thing is that the doctors kept telling me I was a hypochondriac; meanwhile, the tumor was growing in there for years. I am really doing quite well, overall, although every now and then I look at my bald head and the healing wound and sort of freak out, thinking, "Oh my God, they CUT MY HEAD OPEN and dug into my BRAIN." Then I go do my exercises or my breathing and get over it.

      In any case, I came to realize along the way that the stress of such situations makes everything else exponentially worse. Which is why I mentioned empathetic doctors. A kind doctor who can put himself in the patient's place is, in my experience, a rare thing.

      Well, take care of her - take care of each other.

      -Teri

      Delete
    2. Good to hear your headaches are gone. I've known a few folks who've had benign tumors removed from their heads, and they all report vision issues afterwards, but eventually it clears. Let's hope you'll see as well as ever in short order.

      Empathy among medical professionals... I could do an essay on it. Or rather, on its absence. I think empathy is actually trained out of many of them in med-school. I've been around too many of them who see every patient as nothing but an experiment or a specimen. Drives me nuts. But then on the other hand, since moving to New Mexico and hooking up with a very different seeming medical provider system (UNM and IHS -- we had Kaiser in California), it's like a different world. So far, it's been really good, and literally everyone Ms Ché has dealt with, from reception to specialists, has -- she says -- been "wonderful." They are all so nice! And they stay in touch, they explain everything thoroughly, and if something doesn't work, they try something else right away. It's remarkable.

      So, yes, we're grateful, and yes, we look after one another.

      Delete