Recurrence or "Over-Reaction"

The world of Cancer testing has improved since the last update. There is a test called Signatera, which is a blood test that looks for cancer cells that are related to hormone-hungry cancers, such as mine. You get tested every three months. The first time was in January or February. My memory is a little hazy on this part. It showed it was fine. No residual cancer. The second time I got it, I think it was in July, and they saw an increase of 0.07% in hormonal tumor DNA. My new oncologist is far better and more amazing than the shit for brains at the UT Hospital (This can be discussed privately). She really wants to be proactive about this because I have a repeatable history of being cancer-free for a year and then being sucked right back into the monster's mouth.

My doctor was on top of it. Ordered a PET scan and got an MRI done. Found a little nodule on the -ahem- Vaginal Cuff -ahem- and one of my lymph nodules was mildly inflamed. So her next step was to send me to a gyno surgeon... This is where the fun truly starts.

My husband and I went into the office; everything was fine. Normal run-of-the-mill; the doctor was always behind, yada, yada, yada. What was really weirding me out was that there was a freakin' dishwasher in this patient room. The horrors of my imagination flew.

The gyno surgeon was doing a physical examination, and then a random nurse walked to the dishwasher "Sorry ya'll, I just finished lunch and need to wash my container, don't mind me!!"

"Damnit JoAnn I'm kind of in the middle of something here!"

-Insert sarcastic drum roll-

Jessie's wild imagination

He sent his nursing student in to ask the normal run-of-the-mill questions.

"Have you had any surgeries before this visit?" She asked. I confirmed that a full hysterectomy had been done in two different surgeries. She then went on, "Any risk of being pregnant? Are you sexually active? When was your last period?"

The look I gave her, with my voice going stone cold: "If I have had a FULL hysterectomy, do you think I'm going to ever be pregnant or have a period anytime soon?" I caught her off guard, and then she was nervous for the rest of the time she was in there. I made it abundantly clear. I'm not playing games when it comes to my health, and Fort Sanders does not have the best record of keeping people alive. So either we get these things checked out now and prep for surgery, because I refuse to go through another round of cancer. After all, the previous cowardly oncologist failed to do his job. She quickly left the room.

He comes in. Start the eye-rolling, ladies and gents. He said he saw the scans and blood test from my Oncologist. He says that sometimes scar tissue can light up on a PET scan. And the fact that my lymph node is mildly inflamed could also mean nothing... Even though cancer made it through my lymph nodes the last time. He wanted to go see the files from the dumb fuck at the UT Cancer place. He came back and said that there are NO RECORDS of me ever being there other than a DNC back in 2021... He then asked if I had a different name, and I go, well, duh. I'm married. Gave him my maiden name and then clearly stated: "My maiden name should have nothing to do with this; I was already married when I moved down."

They still couldn't find me in the system. I started cussin' at dumb man over at UT, and this doctor dared to defend him in front of me. So then we went to the physical part of the exam, and let me tell you, he was not gentle. I was cramping for hours after.

He looked me straight in the eye and basically said that I'm fine, that I'm overreacting. He said that he wanted me back in six weeks. Well, you dumb redneck hillbilly jerk, I'm not going back to you. I called my oncologist crying because I was treated awfully. I have an appointment with her later this month. Why is it that every male oncologist thinks he knows what's best for a woman's body? Like. Excuse me. Do you live with the symptoms every day? Absolutely not. I know my body, and those spots that lit up are cancer about to start again, and I have been denied because I am a woman. My place is to keep my mouth shut and let the real men talk. Well, not anymore. It's my body, and I've already gone through too much stuff. Every time I have felt sick, I just knew. Its the same this time. And I have my doctors in my corner.