Thursday 16 November 2017

Not Prepared to Wait

So I couldn't just leave it. If I learned anything from Dad's cancer journey it's to always trust your instincts and to never take no for an answer when it comes to your health.

On Friday I made the decision to call the breast nurses at the hospital. I told them I was really unhappy about being left for 6 weeks. I explained that whilst I completely understood that my biopsies had come back benign, I still had this horrible 'suspicious' bloody substance coming out of me and I really wasn't prepared to wait until the week before Christmas for another scan.

The nurse was lovely and booked me in to see the consultant again today.

We arrived at the hospital but I didn't feel as nervous today. I was on a mission. Today I would fight.

"Leanne Nash"

Date of birth confirmed, we headed in to see the consultant.

"So we aren't supposed to see you for 6 weeks? What are you doing here?" she said in a rather annoyed tone.

I reiterated my concerns to her about not being left for 6 weeks and she asked me to go behind the curtain so she could examine me again. The nurse always comes with me behind the curtain. I told her "I just know my own body and something isn't right." She looked back at me in sympathy and smiled.

The consultant came through and asked me to raise my arm. She felt my breast and pinched either side of nipple. A lot of the dark brown blood came out.  She stepped back and asked me to get dressed again. The nurse handed me some tissues to clean myself up.

Once I was dressed I returned to my seat.

"I think what you have is a papilloma which most people just live with, they aren't harmful, but since you have the discharge I can offer you a microductectomy." She ran through all of the risks involved, the loss of sensation I'd feel, the scarring I'd have. I really felt as though she was trying to put me off having the operation. I just kept nodding "That's fine." I knew I was making the right decision.

Chris asked a few questions, each time it was as through she was trying to make him feel stupid for asking it. She was clearly still annoyed we had come here only a few days later and not waited the 6 weeks. Finally Chris asked, "What would have happened if we had waited the 6 weeks but Leanne was still bleeding like that?" She replied that she would have booked me in for the operation anyway.

We left feeling a sense of achievement. We had shaved 5 weeks off my waiting time. My operation is booked in for 7th December but I'll need to come back on 27th November for my pre op.

No comments:

Post a Comment