Clear MRI & Mammogram

Yea! There's nothing better than a clear MRI. The mammogram did not hurt nearly as much as I had feared, but 45 minutes in the MRI is sure a drag.

Now we have to do some more followup and then see what we can do about getting tested for less money. I understand outside "Open MRI" places charge 1/4 or less of what Mayo gets. The trick is going to be keeping Mayo for my followups but paying $750 for an MRI instead of $4500.

Hair is about 2-1/2 inches now. I'm not ready to give up the wig but I do want to see what my stylist can make of it.

MRI and Mammogram Scheduled

We're set to have our first follow-up MRI and Mammogram this week. The Mammogram is only for the non-cancer side, the MRI will be both sides.

I'm hoping hoping hoping for no signs of recurrence. It will be another sign of being done with this.

I'm worried the mammogram will hurt though, I'm barely 3 months out from the implant surgery.

Also the MRI is $4,000, we'll have to leave Mayo or figure something else out if we're to have one of these every 6 months. Our insurance has a high deductible (it's an HSA) and even after that we only get 70% at out-of-network spots like Mayo.

Oncologist Visit

Today we went to the oncologist to review our bad path report. He says we'll need chemotherapy. He wants us to do 4 cycles of Adriamycin+Cytoxan and then 4 cycles of Taxol. This is the worst news so far. All the chemo horror stories are coming back to us now. Hair loss. Vomiting. He wants to start next week.

We decide to abandon the standard doctors-near-a-hospital method of care. We have a Mayo clinic here in Jacksonville and we hear great things about them. We set up some appointments there.

First trip to Mayo

Today we went to Mayo to interview a surgeon for our mastectomy and also a plastic surgeon for reconstruction. We left thinking that Mayo is fairly conservative for a "clinic". But it has some powerful advantages in having a team approach to every patient and having all your records on one computer system. If we have to have chemotherapy or any long-term treatment, Mayo seems like the logical choice.