The past few weeks have seemed like an eternity to me. I’m terrible at playing this waiting game. I am not a Drama Queen, for the most part a very positive person, and can handle alot. That is what has been driving me crazy; What if all of this worry is for nothing? What if I have been losing sleep over nothing? What if..what if…my life seems to be full of what ifs lately.
I had my annual checkup with my Family Physician yesterday. Although my appointment for the Surgeon is on Thursday this week, I knew that he would receive the report at the same time as the Surgeon. All weekend I wondered if I wanted to know the results from my Dr. or not. I definitely have the type of personality that wants to know all of the details and I wasn’t sure if I would get all of the answers yesterday or not. Well, not to worry, the results are still not in!
I wondered, “Am I the only person that goes through this anxiety while waiting”. I happened to find this article (see link below) and found that Harvard Researchers said I am not unusual in my feelings and worries.
“If you talk to any woman who has had a biopsy who has had to wait for results, she will tell you it’s a horrible roller coaster,’’ said Dr. Elvira V. Lang, associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “Even when patients hear they have a cancer, they can start doing something. But if you hang in there for five days and you still don’t know what direction it goes, it’s just very stressful.’’

The concern, Dr. Lang said, is that cortisol levels can influence wound healing and immune response, raising a woman’s potential health risks if she ultimately needs to be treated for cancer. And the stress and anxiety of waiting also affects the quality of life of a woman, her family and her ability to function well at work, she said.

What can I do to help other women? What can we do to make sure that we understand that we need to do more during this waiting period?

I am still hoping for Positive Results for myself from the Biopsy on Thursday (that is IF I get the results then) but hopefully, I can uses this experience to help others!

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/the-anxiety-of-the-biopsy/