Health Update, and Why the Littles Hid

by Charity

I realized, no doubt with help from some of the others, that the little ones were hiding because of the biopsy.  After it was over and we were home resting, they started coming out again.  I envisioned nearly all of us, all ages, in the Gathering Room.  I haven't seen that happening in years, many years.

I'm fairly sure that I disappeared when we arrived at the doctor's office.  The anxiety leading up to that point had been overwhelming.  Once we were in the exam room, an ultrasound tech performed another ultrasound on us.  We were a bit terse with her.  It was probably Rachel.

Then we waited and waited and waited.  The room was very cold.  Eventually we (Allegra?) stuck our head out into the hallway and said something to the medical assistant.  The medical assistant said that all of the exam rooms were cold, but the staff area behind the reception desk was always warm, and they hadn't figured a way to balance it out.  [Two heating zones.  Wake up and fix it, people!--Laura]  She gave us a blanket.  And we waited some more.

It was probably 45 minutes later when the actual procedure began.  I now look through our collective memory bank and see it from the perspective of a jumble of Laura, Allegra, and myself.  Twisted on the exam chair like a pretzel.  The medical assistant showing us the specimen in a little container and going over the information on the label.  The specimen looked like a miniature dumpling.  Us waiting in the waiting room for 20 minutes afterward because we'd driven ourselves there.  Going home and collapsing on our bed and not being able to sleep, at least until about an hour had passed.

There had been lots of back-and-forth between Laura/Rachel and the office staff about the standard instruction to wear a sports bra 24/7 for two weeks after the procedure.  We knew that the office staff were following instructions when they'd told us to wear it.  The ultrasound tech told us to talk to the doctor, which we were going to do anyway.

Laura/Rachel:
"One, I'm a double-A.  I'm lucky to find any bras that fit, let alone a sports bra.
Two, the biopsy is on the armpit, not the breast.  No bra is going to cover that.
And three, I'm left-handed.  I'm going to be moving that arm."

In the end, the medical assistant, who works most closely with the doctor and who we respect and feel most comfortable with, told us in the doctor's presence that while the instructions were given to accelerate healing, ultimately it was up to us to follow them or not.

We ended up wearing the bra for the first night, but we had no plans to do so thereafter.  The next morning, when re removed the outer bandage, the gauze was completely clean.  The medical assistant had remarked about our speedy clotting ability, so this didn't surprise us.  Just above the biopsy point was a small bruise, shaped like a tiny maple leaf, which we assumed was from the local anesthetic.  We were still sore.  And we had a headache later in the morning, which I thought was strange, but Allegra reasoned that the headache was probably more from the heat wave than from anything else.  We took Tylenol.  The headache, and the soreness in our armpit, went away.

So now we have a follow-up appointment two weeks from now.  We should get the test results well before that.  I'm trying to keep everything in perspective, but it's not easy.