radiologist

I know that many folks will wrinkle up their noses when they read the title of this post. The texas legislature will kill texas women. That must be a misprint. Nope. It is fact. Kill – to deprive of live. This is exactly what Governor Rick “Oops” Perry and the legislature have done with their anti-abortion legislation.

My good friend Kurt Eichenwald has more:

My wife has breast cancer.

I write this, with her permission, while sitting in the hospital waiting room as she undergoes surgery. Afterward, there will be another surgery, radiation, and probably chemo, but what else might be in the offing is guesswork at this point. I’ll know more this afternoon, when the operation is over.

Theresa discovered the lump four weeks ago while we were watching television. Fortunately, as a doctor with excellent health insurance, she was able to take quick action. The next day, she had a mammogram and sonogram. Soon after, a radiologist biopsied the growth; we were notified that it was malignant in a call from her doctor seconds before a flight attendant told us to shut off our phones in preparation for takeoff. We quickly met with the surgeon and scheduled today’s operation. Before Theresa left the office, she had a blood test for genetic markers. The next day, an M.R.I.

The whirlwind of activity sometimes allowed us to sidestep our feelings; at the beginning, the diagnosis seemed more like a list of things to do rather than a potentially life-threatening condition. There was, of course, denial. When we informed our sons of what was happening, Theresa wasn’t able to use the words “breast cancer.” I did, and she later told me that, when I said the term, she felt like I was talking about someone else.

Of course, there was fear: she worried about the possibility of a mastectomy, I only worried that she would die. And finally, in that very short time frame of a few weeks, we reached some level of acceptance. (more…)