Thursday November 30

I was able to get in contact with Ben Brooks and he was very helpful on the phone even not seeing my scans yet. I told him my brief history from how I found the lump, to the scans I have completed and their general comments about each of them. He said he knows the oncologists and has sat on the tumor boards with them. Said they do converse about each case and work together with all different doctors (radiologists, cancer drs, etc). I found out that my surgeon, Dr Myers, does a lot of breast surgeries in his surgical group. He sees why we would do chemo first to shrink my tumor.

He also questioned the reason for the PET and I gave him a brief why I believe they wanted me to get one. He said I shouldn't be too concerned as the liver and kidneys normally create cysts. He also mentioned the BRCA gene and how uterus cancer could be linked to breast cancer. That seems interesting to me; which is probably why we are being asked to get genetic testing to see what kind of defects would be in my DNA.

Over all I was thankful to hear an experienced Doctor with a Radiology background to just calm me down a bit over the biopsy. He was very helpful and kind to just answer questions to a slightly/very confused brand new cancer patient. I am becoming more grateful for the people I have spoken with in my past and how they are working their way back into my life.

Later on we went with Chayse to a flag pole raising for his cousins non-profit "Flag Poles for a Cause". We were able to see a mother of a fallen soldier receive a flagpole in memory of him and his service. It was really neat to be a part of. While we were there I received a phone call from the Huntsman Cancer Center in SLC. I had been wanting to have a second opinion on this for a little bit and finally pulled the plug to try and get it done. At first I could only get a meeting with a surgeon on the 21 of December and an oncologist the 14. It was all set up, and then after getting off the phone I received a call back with a cancellation with the surgeon and I could do both on the 14! As treatment is still in the air, I was glad to get it as soon as it could be, since all the breast cancer doctors were heading to San Antonio for their cancer conference the week before my meetings. I don't feel that my treatment options in SLC will be different than St George, but I just want to have more people weighing in and having different conversations to help make this adventure a little easier for me and my family.