I received the phone call with my diagnosis on Friday, November 4th 2022 at 10:00 am. I remember the exact moment. I was driving in Cusick, WA (the middle of nowhere) for work and got just enough phone service to receive a call, THE CALL, that would change my world. I pulled over and answered the phone. “Has anyone called you about your biopsy results? They have been posted on your mychart for 3 days.” (Gotta love the healthcare system) “I’m so sorry, your results came back CANCEROUS. I will send out an oncology referral and they will reach out to you to schedule an appointment.”
Diagnosed on a Friday, there was nothing to do except wait over the weekend to start making calls the following Monday. You are diagnosed with a HIGH grade, INVASIVE, and FAST spreading cancer and asked to wait … torture. So what do you do next? Tell the people you love? No, not yet. I finished my day of work. About 5 more hours of driving, seeing patients and documenting my day. The last few hours I tried to absorb as being as normal as possible before telling anyone. If I didn’t tell anyone, it wasn’t real, yet. The last few hours of just being an occupational therapist. Now that was not my only role or title. I was now a cancer patient. I saw the rest of my patients and stopped by my husband’s work on the way home that afternoon. As soon as those words came out of my mouth, it became reality. This is now REAL.
Mandafit 