The Biopsy Business Beware

I have had like 10 biopsies in the last 4 years give or take, I have lost count already.  It got to the point that I would not just be going for my annual mammogram but I was almost certain that this female radiologist here in Palm Beach County Florida was going to find something to biopsy.  I thought for sure I was putting her kids thru college or something.  So much so that my GYN about 2 years ago suggested I go to another radiologist just to get a new set of eyes to read my mammograms and ultrasound reports.  Did I listen immediately?  NO... I thought well I will skip my annual February mammogram and go in June because every year I go in February she finds something to biopsy and every year I go back in June for a follow up she finds nothing.

So last June I went and was sure she would find nothing.  Crazy superstitious I am, I park in the same parking spot that I park in when I go for the follow ups, I wear like the same clothes, I make the appointment at the same time.  She finds 4 to biopsy.. FOUR..I was stunned.. so much for superstition...

To make a long story short.. 3 were done with ultrasound core and were benign like the other 6 I have had already.  The 4th she could not do stereotactically because it was close to my chest wall and she was afraid I would bleed and so she wanted me to have it done surgically.  SURGERY YUK I thought for a biopsy.. I did not want surgery.. NOW I took the GYN advice and went to the new radiologist who was able to do the 4th while I sat up in a chair... It unfortunately was DCIS Stage 0 which he was able to remove ALL on biopsy.  I followed up with lumpectomy with clear margins and 5 day twice a day mammosite.  I was lucky.

However, 1st radiologist office hounded me 3 months later to come back for a follow up ultrasound on the 3 that she had just done. They sent me letters, called each week, I basically ignored them.  Finally in December they sent me a certified return registered receipt letter to come in and have this done.  I asked my new team of doctors which included the new radiologist, 2 oncologists (1 old 1 young), and the surgeon and they all said NOT to go back to the first radiologist and that it would be OK to wait until March for my annual mammo/ultrasound.  But then Elizabeth Edwards died and I am sitting there with a green certified letter... so I decided if they could get me the last week of December as I more than hit my deductible I would go... I call and the first thing they want to know is if I had a PPO or an HMO.. PPO I replied they said then you have to come after the new year... (since reimbursement is way more from PPO than HMO I am thinking).  I said no if you cannot see me this week then I will not come in at all and so they could not squeeze me in. However upon calling to make that appointment I find out that the radiologist (who was treating me like a pin cushion) is no longer there.  Was she fired?  Did she quit?  No one would say.  Last week my neighbor has lunch and sees this radiologist and she says she was fired for FINANCIAL REASONS... Financial reasons?  Does this mean she did not meet her BIOPSY QUOTA?  That she was not pulling in enough revenue as a radiologist for this medical center that they fired her?  But this is what she is telling people.  She is Harvard, skilled.  But was there a biopsy quota?

I do remember waiting in her waiting room with all the retirees who reimbursement on mammos from Medicare cannot be that great and with a staff of 10+ that those retirees could not in fact carry that practice... I always wondered if I was part of a biopsy quota...

So the moral of my story is there is a BIOPSY BUSINESS in this country.  And if you think in any way that you should get a second opinion run do not walk to the nearest radiologist... Now I will never know if my 10 biopsies were completely necessary or not.  And with so many you think even 1 doctor would tell me I have benign fibrocystic breast disease but they did not, nor did 1 even suggest I stop the caffeine which they did not, nor did 1 suggest I stop putting estrogen on my plate but they did not because it is not in the business best interest to do that(?).  So ladies, if I had it to do over again I would have gone to another radiologist much earlier on.  The fact that a DCIS Stage 0 was found I think does not change my feeling about being over biopsied.  Clearly that was the one that should have been done.

And oddly enough today I go in to the new radiologist for my 6 month follow up appointment on the DCIS and I call today to confirm my appointment which was suppose to be mammogram immediately followed by ultrasound and they tell me the surgeon would not give them a prescription for the ultrasound only the mammogram as he wants me to go to him for the ultrasound.  I said WHAT?  Why would I go to the surgeon for the ultrasound?  Is everyone fighting for my boobs business?  Why would I split this up and who would biopsy me?  They replied they need a prescription which I now got from my internist so that I can go back to this radiologist AGAIN tomorrow for the ultrasound....

The business of biopsies... its a jungle out there... get 2nd opinions... that is all I am saying... I wish I had..it is not the biopsies that ever bothered me, a pinch, no real pain, it is the PTBWD what I call (Post Traumatic Biopsy Waiting Disorder) that was hard on me, the migraines, the vomiting, no sleep, cannot eat, cannot work that was difficult.  I dont wait well... even got shingles from it all 1 year...

So 2nd opinions ladies.. and here I go again today and tomorrow... twice...thanks for listening..