September 11, 2009

Nine eleven, 2009. I had just finished working out on the elliptical machine and completed 600 sit ups which has been my routine of late. It was 7:00 a.m. and the phone rang. It was my physician saying that I needed to come into the office and discuss the results of the ultrasound. "You've got to be kidding". I wasn't feeling really great, because how often do doctors ask patients to come to the office to discuss a test when there are no issues. NEVER! So I called Steve and asked him if he would come with me. We arrived at 9:00 ish and didn't have to wait long. First a nurse came in and asked if we'd been given the information for Dr. West? I told her we had not and actually we had not been told anything as of yet. I looked at Steve and said, "Hum, wonder what kind of a Dr., Dr. West is?" Then the doctor came in and basically just spilled it "you have a cyst on your ovary". "Oh really." Here's what I remember: "I'm going to be sending you to Dr. Randal West, he's a gynecological oncologist. The best in the city. If I were facing what you are facing I would be going to him." At one point she said the cyst was 14mm which is about the size of a marble. I thought I heard her say 14 cm. which is about 6 inches but we had some discussion and she ended up getting a ruler and drawing 14mm on my arm. I'm thinking at the time, "That doesn't seem too bad". Her last statement to us was "just remember the power of prayer". She walked us out of the office and gave me that, I'm so sorry look, touched me on the arm and said if you need anything from me please let me know. I was to be getting a call from Dr. West's office with an appointment. I got the call while in the car going home. My appointment- 9/21-09, the Monday following our vacation to South Carolina with Ross, Valerie, and JR. I called Ross to tell him the news but also told him not to worry about it until we had something concrete to worry about. I didn't want this to ruin our vacation. I was determined not to let it ruin mine or anyone else's if I could help it. Oh, by the way, up until this point I had no symptoms what so ever!