Breast MRI #2

Written April 4th, 2013

Today I had the second Breast MRI at UCSF. Keith came with me. It was in the same location as the last Breast MRI that I had done on March 21st, which was nice that I was already familiar with the location and where to park, where to go. I got checked in for my appointment and Nurse Michael put an IV in my left arm. A Dr. Rita (she said she is a Fellow) walked me through a description of the process and a consent. Then after I soberly signed my consent I was able to take the prescription anti-anxiety medicine they had prescribed for me. I think it's a generic of Xanax. The medicine really helped quite a bit and I was so thankful for being able to have it. 

I went into the MRI room, where Nurse Meg painted betadine all over my left breast. So my entire left breast was a lovely orange color. Then Nurse Meg and MRI Technician Elda got me lowered face down onto the moving table. It's pretty similar position to when you do a face-down massage. There's a face cradle. We had to move my arms above my head, Superman flying position, so that I was positioned in the right way. Elda and Meg were amazingly caring, and nurturing, and professional. I really cannot say enough about how much they treated me so kindly today. They made sure I had plenty of padding under my arms and my shoulders so that I would be comfortable in that position for 45 minutes. They really impressed me today with the level of care they provided for me. Then they said that Dr. Dorota Wisner would be joining us. 

That was great news to me. Dora is married to Andy Wisner, one of Keith's best friends. Andy and Keith have been making homemade wine together for several years now. We've done lots of couple dates with Andy and Dora and we know their two beautiful children. Dora is super sweet and smart. I knew she was at UCSF and did something with Radiology but I didn't realize she specifically does Breast Radiology. I have always enjoyed spending time with Dora. In addition to having a very sweet and caring personality I also know that she's amazingly smart and accomplished. Keith has a lot of respect and admiration for Dora. So knowing that Dora was the Doctor who was going to be performing my procedure was immediately comforting to me. 

So, they did the MRI, several images, put the contrast dye in through the IV, took more images, I had ear plugs in and of course the Xanax was taking effect so I was pretty relaxed and calm. In fact I fell asleep at one point and I was dreaming of milkshakes. Then they woke me up and used the automatic button to move me out the MRI. 

They told me that they did see something still in the left breast. It's less than what they saw the first time but just to be safe they wanted to go ahead and do the biopsy. So the procedure involved giving me a shot of lidocaine to numb the area. It was a little sharp but really not bad. Then Dora said that I would feel some pressure or pulling but that I shouldn't feel anything sharp and if I did feel anything sharp to let her know. Then she guided in the biopsy needle, took some of my cells for the biopsy and placed the Titanium Clip in my breast. Before the procedure they had told me that they use a vacuum pressure to pull out the cells. I could kind of feel the removal a little and I could hear the suction a little - probably because of the ear plugs. I also was super relaxed and kind of sleepy on the Xanax so at least that's what I think I felt. ;-) 

Then we were done with the biopsy and they let me get up and they applied pressure to my breast where the incision was so stop the bleeding. The incision is little. If you took your pinky nail and pressed it into a piece of fruit that's about the size of the incision. They took me to a gurney outside the MRI room, had me lay down for a few minutes, and Nurse Meg talked to me for a little while while she kept the pressure on my incision and Dora talked to me for a little while and we talked about how great her son is doing - he's only 5 and he's learning how to mountain bike and Andy is really proud of him. :-) And then I got to put on some of my clothes - my yoga pants and my down vest over my hospital gown and we walked across the street in a skyway over to the Mammogram area where they did 2 images of my left breast to have a record of where they placed the titanium clip and then I was all set. 

Of course, after all of this first stop was to go get a milkshake. So Keith and I went to have lunch in the Haight at a place called Greenburgers which was super yummy. I got a bacon cheeseburger, sweet potato fries and a Chocolate Malt. Keith got a BBQ pulled pork sandwich and a Salted Caramel Coffee Milkshake. Needless to say we were quite full when we left Greenburgers.

Then Keith drove me home and Diane was here to greet us because today is her work from home day. That was really nice to see her smiling face and to know that she'd be downstairs all afternoon in case I needed anything. I went inside the house and I emailed my surgeon to let her know the procedure had gone well today. 

After that Keith headed off to work. He's been so busy at work lately. He had to stay until 10 PM last night to meet a deadline, then he was working in the waiting room while I did my procedure, then after he knew I was all set at home he went back to his office to work. Knowing how much stress he's under right now made me feel even more grateful that he carved out time to be there to support me.  

Then I pretty much fell asleep for the whole afternoon. My Dad called at 4:30 and that woke me up. Which was actually great because if I slept any longer I probably would have trouble going to bed tonight.