i woke up this morning exhausted after a very long taping-filled week and found out my guest blog post would be appearing in the chicago tribune this morning (on my daddy’s birthday!), so i shared the link on facebook, took a quick shower, and headed to my gastro appointment. just a regular ol’ friday.
ended up sitting in the waiting room for over an hour before they finally took me back. there was a knock on the door, which was then pushed open just a tad and then quickly closed again while the next door over opened instead. sigh. waited another 20 minutes and finally met dr. alcocer: http://www.austingastro.com/why-choose-ag/physicians.aspx#eduardo-alcocer.aspx. as frustrating as the wait was, i was just happy he pronounced my name correctly on his first attempt.
we talked about my mom (stage iv colon cancer diagnosis the day before my pbm), my great-grandmother (pancreatic cancer), and my being brca2+. in the interest of full disclosure, i accidentally said grandmother (well, accidentally on purpose – the form i filled out had spaces for mother/father, brother/sister, and grandmother/grandfather, so i figured that was close enough, and then i couldn’t bring myself to correct it when we were talking). he said i should get a colonoscopy and cat scan of my abdomen (which is apparently the best method of keeping an eye on my pancreas for now), and if all is well, i won’t need another colonoscopy for five whole years years (a “normal” person without my crazy genetics would be able to wait ten years – not to mention waiting until they’re 50 years old instead of still in their 30s).
i was given this lovely handout that talks all about the low-fiber diet i have to have for the three days before, followed by a fun clear liquid diet i’ll get to enjoy the entire day before (and other fun things about which i’ll spare you the details):
i then headed home for some camille/telo time. made myself a bagel and cream cheese (because i know you all care about every little detail including what i planned to eat today), sat down, took one bite, and my phone rang. apparently there was an opening for a cat scan today at 3:30pm. nothing but clear liquids for four hours before. so it was 11:29am, and there went my late breakfast plans. sat back down, was catching up on some email, and then my phone rang again. apparently blue cross needs to have the procedure pre-approved, so i had to reschedule and will now get this done at 8am on tuesday before heading in to work. while i was excited to get at least one thing over with, on the plus side, i got to eat.
in much more exciting news, here is the link to my blog post in the chicago tribune:
BRCAing Bad: how previving cancer is nothing like making meth on a TV show 