Memorial Day Weekend

Finding a lump in your breast at the start of a major holiday weekend is not good timing. As a member of an HMO, I am required to have a primary physician, but I really didn't like her. I disliked her enough that I have not been to visit her since 1997. I kept meaning to switch and be good about regular checkups, but I never seemed to get around to it. To be honest, doctors make me nervous. I even knew what doctor I would switch to when I switched, if only I could find her name. It was on a piece of paper somewhere!

Over Memorial Day weekend I emailed my other sister and asked her to give me the name again. Now, this doctor has my first name so if I had really wanted to remember her name, I could have. Sometime when I have more mental energy, I will consider what that means.

On Tuesday morning, the day after Memorial Day, I did one last BSE hoping that my lima bean would be gone. It wasn't. And I called the doctor's office. Susan the Doctor was accepting new patients, and Susan the Doctor could see me in September. And for the first time I said it out loud "I felt a lump." Saying it out loud meant it was real. Susan the Doctor could see me the next day at 1:30.

My husband is very practical. I don't tell him when I don't feel well because he doesn't give me sympathy. Nope! He says "You should go see a doctor." So when my breast first started feeling strange, I didn't say anything. He would have told me to see a doctor. But, on this day I told him that I was going to see a doctor, so he didn't get to say it first.

Susan the Doctor is good. She gave me an exam, declared that she couldn't feel the lump but that if I had, that was good enough for her. She called the Breast Center and was told there was an opening at the end of June. Susan the Doctor didn't think this was good enough. She gravely said "She felt a lump." I was given an appointment at 1:30 Friday.