"The deed is done. The game is up..."

To quote my favorite line from Mary Martin's Peter Pan-- "The deed is done. The game is up." I went and had my biopsy today... sort of. Sort of you wonder? How can it be sort of?

Well let me tell you that I may just become part of a textbook. See the calcifications they found are in the skin!!! Which means that they aren't cancerous! The problem is they don't look like normal skin calcifications. I spent close to two hours on the table today while they attempted to locate the little suckers. The first time they positioned me-- the tech. called in the radiologist to perform the biopsy. Radiologist makes the first incision. I don't feel the bee sting that they told me I would feel. I don't feel anything. Then she goes in deeper. I feel the pressure but it isn't bad.

Then the radiologist stops and tells the tech to verify the coordinates. The radiologist says that isn't right. They muck around a bit. Then they come to me and tell me they have to go for a different angle. Now the tech spends alot of time zapping my breast. They can't find them from this angle!

Then the radiologist comes up to me and tells me they are pretty sure that the calcifications are in the skin. She tells me the good news is these are never cancerous. I already knew that from my research. She goes on to tell me she wants to be absolutely certain. So they are going to put a bee bee on me breast to prove it.

Now I'm sat up and the nurse puts on steri-strips. A bee bee glued to a piece of tape is taped on the steri-strips. I'm moved to a regular mammogram machine. More time is taken to find the stupid, elusive things. More consultations with other techs. Finally, they get a pic of them. The radiologist comes back and I ask if I can see the film. Which it isn't film but a digital pic in the computer. The radiologist tells me that I'm an anomally because skin calcifications usually look like donuts. My calcifications look like little rods and dots. Because of this oddity I will be going back for a check up mammogram on February 6, 2007.

Now to report on the radiologist. She is cool. I really liked her. Our taste in music is similar and she is down to earth. Female but not froo-frooie. She took time to explain what I was looking at and how the procedure was going to go. She didn't talk to me like I was stupid. When she told me that skin calcifications are not cancerous I told her that I knew that. "How did you know that?" I researched all of this stuff. I know you used a 14 gauge needle for the biopsy. Although I have to admit she did a better job of explaining how the biopsy would take tissue out of me than anything I read. She looked at me again and I explained that I am a librarian. After all my motto is knowledge is power; study hard be evil.

Now I'm feeling rather drained. I have a headache. My chest hurts. I probably over did it. After the ordeal I went to lunch with Passionfruit. Then I did school supply shopping. Shopping by the way was on the do not do list but I was feeling good and wanted to get it done. So supplies are bought except for the package of white construction paper. No one in town had white construction paper. So I'll look for this another time.

Right now I'm waiting on the pizza I ordered. I just didn't have it in me to do any cooking or reheating. That was the pizza guy just now. So I better go.