The Call

Wednesday morning was tough. I couldn't really do anything. They said no shower for 24 hours post procedure and I wasn't going to work with no shower! So I worked from home. Did a conference call. Answered email. Reviewed reports. Answered some questions on what was happening from my senior managers. I have had a cold since the previous Friday. It gets worse.

My cell phone rings. It is a sales candidate that I have been recruiting for 4 years. We make plans for him to fly in on November 13th to interview. While I'm talking to him, the phone rings again. It is the Fellow. I wait silently for her to start.

"I have good news and bad news," she says. The mass is invasive ductal carcinoma in situ. Grade 2. The calcifications are ductal carcinoma in situ. Grade 1. I have to go sit at my computer so I can type what she is saying. My hands are shaking. She tells me grading is a pathology term, not the same as what most people talk about "stage". I won't know what stage until the surgeon does their work.

While I am typing Adam, my son, is calling on the other line. I can't talk. I am still listening. She says I have to get an MRI and a surgeon. She has spoken to my gyne and he has suggested one and it is the same one that they frequently suggest; Dr. Nora Hanson. She agrees to fax over the pathology report.

I call Ken. I never did figure out the good news was.