Questions

During the meeting with my doctors, I learned a lot. My first instinct is to have Quadrantectomy with Radiation Therapy or QUART for short. Then, another doctor friend says it is better to have Radical Mastectomy, so as not to worry about some microscopic cancer cells that might be left behind if I have QUART. I could have reconstruction if I want to, meaning I'll have a fake Louise and a real Thelma! Hmmm....not so appealing to me. When I found out that I would need further surgeries for this, I put my foot down and said NO to reconstruction. I don't want to undergo 3 surgeries in a year! If it's going to be mastectomy, so be it!

And then a thought popped into my head. So I asked: If I have mastectomy, will I lost my sense of balance? Will I be walking like a crab? (No pun intended here. Just an honest question. But you can laugh if you want, I won't be offended as I was half laughing, half embarassed when I asked the question.)

No, of course not. Maybe a sense of imbalance at first. Then Ate Genie asked the question I've been scared to ask; being not sure if I really want to know the answer. She asked if I could play badminton. The answer was unanimous - Yes, you can! *Whew!* I love my sister in law!

Then I went to the medical oncologist, accompanied by Papa and Ate. When we finally sat down for a consultation, her first sentence was: So what do you want to know?

It took all my willpower to stay in my chair and not walked out of her office then and there. I looked at the doctor and answered: I don't know what questions to ask. I'm new with this disease. I'm rather hoping that you could enlighten me on what lay ahead of me; what I should expect, etc.

SCOREBOARD for bitchiness:
Doctor: 0 Vangie: 1,000,000

GO ME!!!!